Stir up the gift of evangelism today!
The word evangelist is used in only two other places in the New Testament. Philip became known as the evangelist (Acts 21:8). Then Paul urged Timothy to do the work of an evangelist (2 Timothy 4:5). But the corresponding verb and noun are used many times of bringing good news, declaring glad tidings (Acts 13:32), preaching the gospel of God’s grace, the gospel of peace, or simply preaching Christ. The gospel is the good news about Jesus Christ. The evangelist comes, like Jesus, not “to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:17).
Using Philip as an example, we see that the ministry of the evangelist took him to people who did not know the Lord. First, it was a city where miracles brought joy and where the people believed his preaching and were baptized (Acts 8:6–8, 12). Second, he was sent to an individual, and starting where the Ethiopian eunuch was reading, Philip preached (evangelized, brought the good news about) Jesus (Acts 8:35). Thus, mass evangelism and personal evangelism are both the work of the evangelist.
Here is a distinction between the evangelist and the prophet that is not often noticed. The evangelist did not go to churches. He went where the sinners were. Prophets went to the churches. As in the case of Judas and Silas, their work was to stir up, cheer up, and strengthen the believers. In a sense, then, the prophets were revival men. There may be combinations of these ministries, of course. Very often evangelism is much easier when the local church is stirred up, revived, and strengthened. But Paul indicates that some men are especially gifted as prophets, others as evangelists.
The Bible also puts us on the alert with regard to evangelists. There are those who preach another gospel and who are to be considered as accursed, for they will come under the judgment of God (Galatians 1:8, 9).
Horton, S. M. (2005). What the Bible Says about the Holy Spirit (pp. 268–269). Springfield, MO: Gospel Publishing House.
