Theological Foundations The role of the evangelist, as given in Ephesians 4:11-13, is not just to get lost sinners saved from the penalty and guilt of sin and leave the rest to the pastor-teacher, but for the perfecting, maturing, or building up of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come into the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect or mature man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. The work of the biblical evangelist, along with pastors and teachers, is found principally in one verse of Scripture (Ephesians 4:12). Without any question, the evangelist’s ministry encompasses three specific areas in which he will be engaged …show more content…
The person who serves, as an evangelist is a "gospeler." The evangelist's calling originally denoted both a function and an office. There was not much difference between an apostle and an evangelist. All apostles were evangelists; however, not all evangelists were apostles, since a direct call by the Lord was necessary. John Calvin advocated there were times when God would raise up evangelists as substitutes for apostles. In a real sense, "the apostles did not know when to stop being evangelists." And without the ministry of the true New Testament evangelist, the Church would die …show more content…
This is indicated by the usage of the Greek verb euaggelizo (to proclaim the good news) 54 times and the Greek noun euaggelion (good news or gospel) 76 times. In Luke 20:1 and Acts 8:4, Jesus and the apostles were evangelists in preaching the gospel.9 Since the centrality of evangelism is derived biblically, theologically, practically, and logically throughout the New Testament, it can further be deduced that the term evangelist is located in the center of the five gifts in Ephesians 4:11. Evangelism is the heart of the Church. It seems reasonable to conclude that all of the fivefold ministry gifts focus on evangelism. When evangelists are multi-gifted (apostle, prophet, pastor, teacher), there is greater diversity in evangelism. These leadership gifts are given by Christ to equip churches for ministry (see Example