Ephesians 4:11-12, “11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.”

Jesus gave the five-fold ministry gifts to the church when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Day of Pentecost for the building up of His Body.  (1) Apostles: are those who are sent out to start new churches, (2) Prophets: are leaders who speak on behalf of God’s heart and give spiritual direction to the church, (3) Evangelists: are those who win souls and raise up soul winners, (4) Pastors: are ministers who shepherd and care for God’s people, and lastly, (5) Teachers: are instructors who explain and guard the truths of the Bible.

The role of the evangelist in preaching the gospel is to train and mentor all believers to be preachers.  Some in the church have wrongly assumed that if they don’t have the calling in the five-fold ministry to be an evangelist than they don’t have to do evangelism. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Everyone is called to do evangelism and it’s the job of the evangelist to train them.

Jesus said to the man who desired to go to his father’s funeral before joining with Him in Luke 9:60,“Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”  Therefore, it was always Jesus pattern to teach all His disciples to be Kingdom of God preachers- no exceptions and no excuses!

The word “evangelism” comes from the Greek word “euaggeliz?,” which means, to “preach good news.”  Thus, everyone is to be trained to preach the good news of Jesus!  In turn, the “evangelist” or the “good news instructor” is to teach others to do what they do.  If your church doesn’t have an evangelist the pastor can fill in for them.  However, I would still recommend getting resources from trusted evangelists that will give greater depth and instruction.

Now is the time to be trained as an effective soul winner!

Reflection

Have you received instruction from an evangelist on how to preach the gospel?

Action

  1. Seek further training to do evangelism by an evangelist either in person or by their materials.
  2. Practice and perfect what you learn from them.
  3. Preach the Word of God as often as you can to as many people as you can!