The office and calling of the evangelist - …

1 1-1-THE office AND CALLINGOF THE EVANGELIST2 TIMOTHY 4:1-5"DO THE WORK OF AN evangelist "FACILITATOR'S GUIDETHEOFFICE ANDCALLING OF THEEVANGELIST-FACILITATOR'S GUIDEPage2of11 Billy Graham, speaking at the Amsterdam Conference forItinerant Evangelists, said: One of the greatest needs todayis for the Church throughout the world to recognize andrecover the legitimacy and importance of the gift of theEvangelist. Perhaps it is because the world church is not sure whatevangelism evangelist is a person with a specialGiftandCallingfrom the Holy Spirit.(Ephesians 4:11)To announce the good news of the )We must remember that it isa Gift from Godandnot from will keep us from-(i)Pride for we cannot take anycredit for it.

2 (John 3:27)(ii)Discouragementand theTemptation togive upbecause we know our calling is notfrom man but from God.(1 Corinthians 9:16; John 15:16)(b)Talking about"gifts"and callings we need toremember that"The Gifts and Callings ofTHEOFFICE ANDCALLING OF THEEVANGELIST-FACILITATOR'S GUIDEPage3of11 God are without Repentance"(irrevocable)(Romans 11: 29).(c)Then we must understandthata man s giftmakes room for him.(Proverbs 18:16)These verses rule out the fear of beingthreatenedbyothers or thespirit of competitionthat is sometimesfound in evangelistic God s gift to the be honoured: Because God given amongst the other gifts to thechurch The work of an evangelist requires special grace andusually involves 4:7 but unto every one of us is given graceaccording to the measure of the gift of Christ.

3 The evangelist is needed by the whole Body of Christfor the perfecting of the saints, for the work of theministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. (Ephesians 4:12) The evangelist has anOfficein the Church. Phillip,inActs 21: 8, is called an evangelist and Timothy ischarged by Paul to do the work of an evangelist . InTHEOFFICE ANDCALLING OF THEEVANGELIST-FACILITATOR'S GUIDEPage4of11 Ephesians 4:11it is listed alongside the gift andofficeofApostles,Prophets, I mention that, just as in the case of the Pastor,not everyone who has the gift of an Evangelistholds the office of the are manylaymen and women who are never invited to conduct alarge crusade but who aregreat soul winners, have the gift of role and function of the evangelist isthe work ofthe Greek word for evangelist means one who announces the Good News.

4 The evangelist functions within the operation of thelaw Corinthians 3: 6the Lord of the harvest uses the ministry of sowing(the Pastors and Teachers) and the ministry of reaping(the role of the evangelist ). There are seasons ofsowing and reaping within every Church. To sow butnever harvest is adisaster,while to reap where therehas been no sowing,gives poor ANDCALLING OF THEEVANGELIST-FACILITATOR'S GUIDEPage5of11 THE WORK OF AN EVANGELISTWe have already seen that the evangelist is one whoannounces (personally and publicly) the Good term Evangelism encompasses every effort todeclare the Good News of Jesus Christ, to the end thatpeople may understand God s offer of salvation and respondin repentance, faith and the work of the evangelist is bestdefined as Winning the lost to Christ, throughthe preaching ofthe word,in thepower of the Holy Spirit, for thebuilding up the body of Christ"Let s break this down into bite-size Winning of the Lost There is nothing moreurgentthan a field which is ripefor harvest.

5 (John 4: 35-38)Paul admonishes Timothy (in II Timothy 4:2) Preachthe Word, be ready in seasonand out of season .Thismeans preach at the appointed time (in season) butalsobe prepared to turn an Out of Season intoanTHEOFFICE ANDCALLING OF THEEVANGELIST-FACILITATOR'S GUIDEPage6of11 In Season opportunity. The evangelist mustalways be prepared to givea reason for the hopewithin. (2 Peter 3:15) He must, therefore, also be is the supreme task of the evangelist to win is a Reaper in a harvest field. This mustbe done for the following compelling reasons:(i)TheCompassionof Christ (2 Corinthians 5:14).

6 A compassionate concern for those in spiritualneed, a concern that leads us to action.(ii)TheCompulsionof the Holy Spirit (Acts 15:26,17:6). Only the love of Christ will enable theevangelist to make the sacrifices, to take the risks, tolove the unlovely.(iii)Another motive is theapproaching said in II Corinthians 5:11, Knowingtherefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men .There is a day of judgement approaching. Thereis a heaven and a hell in eternity. The secularworld is talking more about Armageddon and theend of the world. This leaves us with no option orchoice. We are ambassadors under authority; wehave responded to a bugle call from which there isno retreat.

7 May we never be disobedient totheTHEOFFICE ANDCALLING OF THEEVANGELIST-FACILITATOR'S GUIDEPage7of11heavenly vision .(Acts 26: 19). Paul also taught,out of his concern for the lost, that to the weak Ibecome weak, thatI may win the weak. I havebecome all things to all men that I might by allmeans save some. (1 Corinthians 9:22) the preaching of the word .Paul said Preach the Word (II Timothy 4: 2). Remember,it s God s word that will not return void(Isaiah55:11). We must master the Word and the Wordmust master us.(i)Theadequacyof the Word of said he was not ashamed of the Gospel(Romans 1:16).

8 We preach the Wordbecause we believe that its truth is adequateto meet all ourneeds. The Evangelistneeds to make no apology for the Word heexpounds.(ii)Therelevancyof the Word of preaching of the Word is relevant to allpeople of all cultures and task of the evangelist and theScienceof Preaching (which is nothing less thantruth through human personality) is to exegete theTHEOFFICE ANDCALLING OF THEEVANGELIST-FACILITATOR'S GUIDEPage8of11 Scriptures, making the truth therein palatable tothe audience.(iii)Theurgencyof the Word of evangelist comes with a sense of urgency. Hebelieves inhell, eternity and judgement.

9 Heunderstands why the Word says today if you hearHis voice harden not your heart . (Hebrews 3:7). Now is the dayof salvation. (II Corinthians 6:2) Power of the Holy spiritIt was thepowerand thecompulsionof the HolySpiritthat used Peter on the day of Pentecost; that ledPhillipfrom the revival in Samaria to reach theEthiopian eunuch in the desert; that sentWilliamCareyto India to preach for 7 years before he won hisfirst convert; that movedJohnWesleyto ride 5-7,000 miles per year on horseback, and that sentDavidBrainardto preach to the Indians in the USA for 5years, until he eventually died as a young man in thearms of the girl he loved more than anyone on was the compulsion of the Holy Spirit that touchedthe heart ofDavid Livingstoneafter he heard RobertMoffat say, Ihave often stood and watched the smokerise from 1000 villages where no missionary has everTHEOFFICE ANDCALLING OF THEEVANGELIST-FACILITATOR'S GUIDEPage9of11been, to which the young David, responded and said.

10 I willgo to those 1000 villages and 10,000more , and out he went, fighting savages and wildbeasts and surviving 35 attacks of malaria fever. Hedied in a little grass hut on his knees in the heart of theAfrica he loved for the Body of ChristThe evangelist sees himselfas a servant of thechurchand all that he does is to build the Body ofChrist. In fact, when we look again at Ephesians 4,where the ministry of the evangelist is listed, we notethe point of it all in verse 12, for the equipping of thesaints for the work of service, to the building up of thebody of Christ.