Over the last several weeks, we’ve been talking about the various gifts given to the church, which are found in Ephesians 4.  We have talked about the apostolic, the prophetic, the pastor, and the gift of teaching. Today we are going to dive into the final gift, the gift of evangelist.

Ask: Let’s get a baseline: what do you believe an evangelist to be?

The Greek term translated as an evangelist is “Euangelistes” (yoo-ang-ghel-is-tace), which means “a bringer of good tidings” and “a preacher of the Gospel.

The term is only used 3 times in the Bible. 1 is in Ephesians 4, where the gifts are laid out; another is in 2 Timothy, where Paul tells Timothy to do the job of an evangelist. However, only once did it specifically label someone as an Evangelist. That’s found in Acts 21:8

On the next day we departed and came to Caesarea, and we entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him.

The question becomes, who was Philip? We meet Philip in Acts 6, where he is chosen to be one of 7 elders to help the Apostles. So we know he was honorable, reliable, faithful to the community, and willing to lead. But what did he do as an evangelist? We have some modern ideas as to what an evangelist is, but let’s look at the Biblical example.

We are going to split up into 2 groups. Each group will be given a section of scriptures that talks about what Philip did. What you need to do is identify key aspects of what he did in those passages that could help us understand what an evangelist is.

Scripture Selections 1; Acts 8:4-12

Key things we see Philip doing:

• Proclaimed Christ even though the environment was hostile towards the message.
• Preached about the good new of the Kingdom of God
• Preached about who Jesus is
• Baptized people
• Operated in miraculous gifts such as healing and casting out of unclean spirits

Scripture Selections 2; Acts 8:26-40

Key Things we see Philp doing:

• He actively approached people whom God told him to speak to
  He offered to help and then proceeded to help the Ethiopian understand the passage of Scripture he was reading, and then he showed him how it pointed to Jesus.
• Baptized the man
• Preached everywhere he went
• Ask: Looking at the example of Philip, what then is an Evangelist?

An Evangelist seems to be passionate about telling people about the Hope of Jesus Christ. This is not just in a “live the gospel” mindset but vocally sharing it. Notice that his concern seems to be specifically about salvation through Christ and the good news of the Kingdom of God. It’s a message of hope. He’s not concerned about minor doctrinal issues; he’s concerned about salvation. While presenting the Gospel, they help people take their next step and lead them through baptism.

Looking at these examples and historical examples, evangelists aren’t generally super focused on discipleship, which is why it’s so essential for those who operate in this gifting to be plugged into a church and community to help people grow beyond just the initial salvation moment.

Evangelists are generally great at stirring up the body of Christ to reach the lost. They are passionate about this mission but can grow frustrated if they don’t see others doing things as passionately as them. One danger among all the giftings, is that those who operate in them can get tunnel vision and feel like the others are not as important. Again, this is why it’s essential for all the gifts we’ve discussed to be in harmony together.