We Must Have Evangelists

And he gave some as evangelists.’ (Ephesians 4:11)

There are a plethora of good Bible teachers and preachers in the Reformed denominations of our day, and for this we ought to be thankful. We tend to attract men who love the Bible and theology and who, consequently, are gifted in communicating both. As important as this is, however, we still must have evangelists. Though in the past it is largely true that church plants are more effective in evangelism than long-established churches, my cursory (admittedly not a detailed or scientific survey) look at church plants today suggests this is no longer the case. We seem to be better at church transplants than church plants. In other words, the vast majority of people attracted to church plants in the Reformed community are coming from other churches. We seem only to be shuffling the deck, as it were. And while these church plants, as well as more established churches with good or great preachers, sometimes grow to become large and very effective churches, the truth still remains that we are not seeing many conversions. So a church that is dominated by teaching or preaching, while appearing to be a lively and growing body, actually has the seeds of death in it, already working to bring down the ministry of that church. What then is missing? We must have evangelists. To be sure, all pastors are to do the work of an evangelist (2 Tim. 4:5). I have said many times that every pastor needs a ‘fishing hole’ and he needs to fish weekly. He needs to be out witnessing the gospel at least for an hour or two every week. Having said that, however, it still remains a biblical maxim that the church needs evangelists to labour beside the pastor in his role. These evangelists, in turn, take people with them to the streets or door to door, or equip them in how to conduct home evangelistic Bible studies.

Paul the Apostle lays this out in Ephesians 4:11-12, saying that God gives to the church, according to his sovereign plan, apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers. Their job is to equip the saints so that they in turn may do the work of ministry. By that Paul means the building up of the body of Christ. A church dominated by a strong teaching or preaching ministry, without the presence of an evangelist labouring equally alongside the pastor, is already dying. Like a homosexual couple which cannot propagate, churches without evangelists cannot bring spiritual babies into the church body. The seeds of death are already there. On the other hand a church dominated by an evangelist, without the strong teaching and preaching ministry to build up the saints, is a shallow church. The emphasis is on evangelism to the detriment of growing in grace. And a church ought to have a vibrant mercy ministry, but interest does not come easily if the pastor is an evangelist or teacher. An evangelistically gifted pastor or a gifted teacher/preacher must also have a mercy ministry man beside him too. A church dominated by mercy ministry begins to sound like a social gospel church. The sharp edges of Christ’s penal substitutionary atonement are rounded off. In a compassionate desire to serve the poor, the tendency – proven time and again in church history – is slowly but surely to move away from gospel proclamation which stresses the death and resurrection of Christ as the means by which the Father’s just wrath and condemnation for our sin is removed. We see this today in the strategies often used to minister to the poor. It seems that many go into the hood¹ first to give medical treatment, to teach children to read, to mentor young men, etc. While certainly commendable, deeds of mercy, if not driven by gospel proclamation of man’s need for a Saviour and the Father’s providing of One, will eventually drive out gospel work altogether.

So we must have evangelists – men who are specifically gifted by God to speak to people about their souls, showing them that Jesus is the only means of salvation, pressing them to repent and believe the gospel.

But where are the evangelists and how do we find them, train them, and deploy them? Paul tells the Romans that they have gifts that vary according to the grace of God given to them, that they are to exercise their gifts accordingly (Rom. 12:6-8). So God gives specific spiritual gifts to his people according to his sovereign plan, and the depth or breadth of these gifts will vary, again according to God’s will (one may have the gift of teaching but perhaps not in the depth or breadth of R.C. Sproul). So, where are the evangelists? How do we find them? Well, consider this “” how does one know if he is a good baseball player? He plays the game and his talent becomes obvious to him, his coaches, and his teammates. One has to get on the field, play the game, and the gift for baseball becomes obvious. Likewise, we find evangelists by urging believers to go into the streets, as it were, and do the work of evangelism. The gift soon surfaces, and one knows he has the gift of evangelism if he is unstoppable in his use of it. That is, he does not have to ‘get over the hump’. He does not have to ‘make himself do it’. He just does it. He wants to evangelize. A preacher has no problem preaching. He loves it. Likewise, an evangelist has no hesitation in evangelizing. He wants to engage people in the gospel. He lives for it!

So, practically speaking, how do you find evangelists? Here’s what we do at our church. We have evangelists come to our church for an intensive in evangelistic outreach. We urge our people to go out on the streets of West Hartford to watch our evangelists share the gospel. We have found that evangelists pop up, they rise to the surface, just like a quality baseball player in Little League becomes obvious to those who watch him. I remember watching Adam Everett (for years, one of the best shortstops in Major League Baseball) at the age of ten. It was clear, even at that age, that he had a very special talent. And while everyone is to share the gospel, the evangelists in your church are the ones who will be the most productive and most willing. Find them and turn them loose. Don’t hold them back by asking them to chair committees or to do administrative work. They are a prized asset in your church. Set them free to do what God has gifted them to do.

And another thing “” I tell evangelists that they often seem strange to many in the church. They sometimes come off as ‘loose cannons’, and the church leadership tends to hold them at a distance, not fully embracing them. This is a big mistake! You ought to thank God profusely if he sends evangelists to your church. Urge your pastor to make full use of them. They will bring vibrancy to your church that may be missing. Yes, it can be messy because converts they bring to church come with ‘baggage’, but new born babies coming into a family can be messy too, altering sleep patterns, demanding much time, but what married couple does not rejoice at this new little ‘inconvenience!’