Ralph Winter’s legacy

I’ve been reading some memories and thoughts about the late Ralph Winter in the latest issue of Mission Frontiers.

And it’s really interesting.

I first met Ralph at Urbana 90, when I was but a wide-eyed college-freshmen who was probably too young to be at something like Urbana.  I attended one of his seminars and remember thinking that this guy may be the sharpest guy I’ve listened to at the whole conference.   That’s the only memory I have of him.

But as I’ve been reading more by him over the last six months — like his article on sodalities (conventional mission structures) vs. modalities (conventional church structures) — I have continued to be impressed by him.

But reading stuff written about him by his children has been utterly inspiring.  First of all, having all your children speak well of you at the end of your life is an amazing feat in this day and age of fractured parental relationships.   On top of that, the lessons they remember him teaching are simply phenomenal. Here are a few quotes and legacies he had that have really caught my attention.

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– ”I learned from Dr. Winter that often the most important battles are battles of perception.  If we cannot perceive what is actually going on, all solutions are irrelevant and ineffective.” — Tim (son-in-law).

– ”Surrender or defeat weren’t in his vocabulary.  Possibilities, hope, faith, optimism — his life seemed to brim with scintillating ideas.” — Beth (daughter)

– ”Greatness was not important to my father.  He was never seeking a name of himself or a position of power or fame.  But he was deeply interested in the problems of this world and what God would have us do about them.” — Becky (daughter)

– You can get a lot done if you are willing for someone else to get the credit. – Becky and Linda (daughters)

– God doesn’t need money; He needs people (hence the  Million Person Campaign to raise awareness and small gifts over a traditional fund-raising campaign). — Becky (daughter)

– (Context — Recounting a family dinner discussion about the 17,000 people groups that had no one to tell them about Jesus, they decided they needed to “as a family, set out to do what was needed to persuade some believer from somewhere to bring an understandable, holistic, and gracious witness to each of these people groups, as best as we could.) If it is worth doing, it is worth doing poorly, my father always said.  Thirty-five years later, only 8,000 unreached people groups are left. Not too bad.” -- Becky (daughter)

– Don’t do what others can and will do, if there are important things that others can’t or won’t do. — Becky (daughter).

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There is a LOT of wisdom packed in there.  And I certainly hope my children will remember such great life lessons and follow after Leslie’s and my legacy like the Winter girls did.

My favorites are the last three.  They zoomed out at me from the pages of the Frontier mission bulletin.

God doesn’t need money; He needs people – Wow.  That’s powerful and true. How would progress to unreached peoples change if every follower of Jesus began to understand this more?  And not just giving 10% of ourselves, but ALL of ourselves.   What God could do through the lives people fully given over to him.

If it is worth doing, it is worth doing poorly — This goes against everything I’ve been taught: the Jack Welch, don’t do it unless you can be top three in it approach.   What often comes off as wisdom and good leadership is often times just plain cowardice and perfectionism that has kept us from action.   But when lives are stake, isn’t time wasted, lives wasted?    I think of what Winston Churchill has said about the price of inaction being far greater than the price of action that may be laden with mistakes.

And finally, Don’t do what others can and will do, if there are important things that others can’t or won’t do — I’m learning that a lot in life is about willingness.  This quote highlights one’s willingness more than anything else.  I’ve come to see that “I can’t” really often means “I won’t,” and that is a willingness issue.   Willingness combined with a clear sense of priority is exactly what Winter is getting at here.  What a dangerous combination that must make in the hands of a powerful God.

Lord, increase the tribe of Ralph Winter.  May there be more women and men that follow his footsteps.