Church Leadership: The Evangelist

Ephesians 4:11—And [Christ] gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers—declares that our Lord has given gifted leadership to His Church in the form of four offices. The first two are clearly past and no longer active. An apostle was a man who (1) had seen the resurrected Lord Jesus, (2) was called and commissioned, in person, by the Lord Jesus, (3) received special revelation from God and, therefore, had absolute authority, and (4) had the power to work miracles to prove his apostleship. A prophet, in the official sense of that day, spoke immediately of the Holy Spirit, that is, spoke under the direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit and spoke new revelation, something that no longer is occurring. Our only authority is Scripture alone. Evangelists and [pastor-teachers], however, are still in force. They are, in fact, the direct descendants of the apostles; and prophets.

What is an “evangelist?” We have heard this term countless times in the last century, but exactly is it? The Greek is euangelistes, “one who proclaims good news,” and seems to indicate that this proclamation was in places where the Gospel was previously unknown. It is found in only two other verses. It first occurs in Acts 21:8, where Philip is referred to as an evangelist. A little earlier in 8:5 we are told that “Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them,” which is what the evangelist did. Later in that passage we also read of Philip’s dealing with the Ethiopian eunuch. The second occurrence is in II Timothy 4:5, where Paul tells Timothy to “do the work of an evangelist,” that is, to proclaim the good news.

The foundational principle here for both the [evangelist] and the [pastor-teacher] (literal translation) is this: these two are the direct descendants of the Apostle and the Prophet respectively. That is, the evangelist is the direct descendant of the Apostle, and the pastor-teacher is the direct descendant of the prophet. Noted pastor John MacArthur puts it very well: “There is no [actual] mention of the latter two gifted offices replacing the first two, because in New Testament times all were operative. But the fact is that, as they continued to serve the Church, the evangelists and [pastor-teachers] did pick up the baton from the first generation apostles and prophets.”

This principle is of vital importance because it follows of necessity. Since the Apostle went about proclaiming the Gospel and planting churches, and since that ministry must continue, it follows that the evangelist continues this work. Likewise, since the Prophet proclaimed and taught the Truth, and since that ministry must continue, it follows that the pastor-teacher continues that work. The Apostle and prophet are gone, but their work, without the miraculous signs and immediate speaking of the Spirit, still continues.

The evangelist, therefore, is to carry on the basic work of the Apostle. What a position and responsibility! Like the Apostle, he goes about proclaiming the Gospel and planting local churches. This picture is not to be confused with what is called an “evangelist” today. To equate the New Testament position with many of the so-called evangelists today, or with what theologian Lewis Sperry Chafer calls “the modern revivalist who bears the name [evangelist], and who has little recognition in the New Testament,” is to insult the Biblical text. In our day, this is often a guy with six suits and a dozen sermons who goes all over the country preaching, which sometimes is the Gospel and sometimes is not. Now while preaching the True Gospel is paramount, it is quite obvious that the Biblical evangelist did far more. He taught people the Word and grounded them in the faith over a period of time. He also, of necessity, founded a local church because that is where the new believer should be. Upon completion of this task, he would move on, leaving a pastor-teacher, the descendant of the Prophet in his place.

This is what is termed “church-planting” and is the Biblical model for “missions.” Strictly speaking, “missions” is planting churches. Why? Because it is the way the Apostle Paul did it. As we will see, the Local church is what God is using to do His work, so it is local churches that we must plant.