What in the World Could Microbes Have to do with Global Evangelism?

A quote from Ralph Winter's book, Frontiers in Mission: Discovering and Surmounting Barriers to the Missio Dei, from page 227:

At this point it is quite possible that some will say, ‘What in the world could microbes have to do with the Kingdom of God or global evangelism?’ The answer is simple. Distorted microbes war against the Kingdom of God. Distorted genes make animals violent and destructive. Destructive parasites kill off many varieties of plant and animal life, and as well as, by the malarial parasite, 1.2 million people a year, most of them children, four of whom die every minute from malaria alone. All this massive damage to the purposes of the Kingdom of God amounts to noise so loud that people can’t hear what we are preaching to them.

Rick Warren - The First Member of the RWI Board of Reference

By Brian Lowther

I'm very happy to report that Rick Warren has agreed to join our Board of Reference.

One of our first major goals is to establish a board of reference of respected individuals in the Christian community who both knew Ralph Winter and his heart for the unreached peoples of the world as well as those who also have an understanding of his last major initiative, that of founding the RWI.

We thought of Pastor Rick because, not only is he a very prominent name in the Evangelical world, but he has expressed his admiration for Winter many times over the years, culminating in his very heartfelt address at Winter's memorial service in May 2009.

Barbara Winter and I met with him briefly last Friday (March 18). Before I could finish my sentence inviting him to be on our board of reference he answered, "In a blink, absolutely without a doubt!" And then he gave me and Barb a big hug. I was caught off guard by his enthusiasm and friendliness.  

Thank God for moments like this that serve to put some wind in our sails.

Why We are not Winning Very Many Educated People to Christ

By Brian Lowther

What distressed Ralph Winter about those who accepted disease and suffering as if it were from God’s hand was the way it profaned the true nature of God – i.e. loving, good, powerful, etc. Winter looked to the example of Jesus, who was deeply concerned about physical deformities, disease and suffering. Jesus was decidedly not in the business of inflicting people with pain or diseases to deepen their spiritual lives. In fact, if God is in that business, why did Jesus go around relieving people of pain and sickness? You can see why Winter agonized over the fact that for centuries much of the evil, suffering and violence in the world has been attributed to God. He was convinced that this was the reason we were not winning very many educated people to Christ. And he was convinced that if this notion continued, many of those millions of rural people and uneducated people we had recently won would eventually lose their faith just as they have in Europe and much of America.

Disease as Evidence of the Cosmic War

By Brian Lowther

Dr. Rendle Short comes tentatively to the conclusion that ‘the happenings in this world, in fact, and its moral disasters, its wars and wickedness, its physical catastrophes, and its sicknesses, may be part of a great warfare due to the interplay of forces such as we see in the book of Job, the malice of the devil in one hand and the restraints imposed by God on the other.’  

Paul Tournier in A Doctor’s Casebook writes, ‘Doubtless there are many doctors who in their struggle against disease have had, like me, the feeling that they were confronting, not something passive, but a clever and resourceful enemy.’   

Quoted from The Gospel of Mark: The New Daily Study Bible, edited by William Barclay