Chapter 11
As we continue to study the five-fold ministry gifts of Ephesians 4:11, one important ministry office comes into focus at this point – the evangelist. Normally when people think of the word “evangelist,” the mental picture is of a sweat-soaked man with big hair preaching in a tent and slapping people on the head making them fall down. Or they think of some equally flamboyant character on TV who asks for money 50 minutes of a program and spouts a Bible verse about why he’s asking for it the other 10 minutes of the hourly allotment of his time. In the secular mindset of today’s society, where religious faith is more and more an object of scorn than of respect, these negative stereotypes prevail and are often satirized on late-night TV comedy shows. Growing up in a fairly traditional Appalachian Pentecostal environment as I did, I attended many meetings with my folks where a preacher called an evangelist would come to a local church in our town and hold a week-long meeting called a revival. God moved a lot in some of those services, and people were converted and came to Christ in those meetings, and in themselves there was nothing wrong or bad about such meetings. However, there is an important fact to note here – those old-time revival services I grew up around, and similar meetings today, did not have as their primary purpose the evangelization of souls. Rather, their purpose was to renew and revitalize the faithful, who may have gotten a little cold in their faith and needed to recommit themselves to Christ. That is not a bad thing at all, and indeed we need times of refreshing, as life’s challenges can often get our spiritual lives out of focus. Such meetings are also important in that they renew and empower the faithful to be more evangelistic. Like the other ministry gifts, the office of evangelist is both a specific office – that is, there are people called to the vocation full-time – and a general mandate; we are all called to evangelize because we are all to be witnesses of Christ to the world around us. To put it in Eastern Christian terms, our calling to be “living icons” of Christ to those around us is evangelistic. Saint John Climacus, in his classic work The Ladder of Divine Ascent, alludes to this as a calling we should all strive toward in our pilgrimage toward what we as Eastern Christians call Theosis. Christianity, in its many forms, is an evangelistic faith. We share with others what Christ done for us, for as John 3:16 says, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that WHOSOEVER believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” Christ, in His Passion, died for us all (Mel Gibson’s recent movie graphically illustrates the profundity of that in such a way that it stretched the human senses to their fullest comprehension), and we are responsible to share that message with others. Evangelism, then, is about showing Christ to others and in that respect every true Christian is called to it. However, there is a more specific function as well of one who holds the evangelistic office – it is a special calling that requires the whole life of the called, and it is this which Ephesians 4:11 deals with.
The word for evangelist is derived from the Greek word evangelion, which literally translates as “herald of good tidings.” The evangelist, in a specifically spiritual sense then, is charged with bringing the best news mankind can receive – we can be delivered from the depths of damnation and receive eternal life. God provided a way for this to be possible, and we as Christians know that Way is Jesus Christ, the ultimate Passover Lamb, which the lamb sacrificed in the Jewish Passover of old foreshadowed. That is one major reason why Easter is called Paska in the Eastern Christian traditions, and why in the households of many Eastern Orthodox and Eastern-rite Catholics (including my own) roast lamb is served on that day. The sole task of one called to the office of evangelist is to convey that message to all possible in a way that can relate to them.
Please understand, however, that this has nothing to do whatsoever with something floating around in Evangelical and charismatic Protestant circles today called “seeker-sensitive Christianity.” What that abhorrent philosophy essentially says is that we supposedly bring “Christ to the culture,” but in reality what it truly does is water down the Gospel message to make it more “appealing” to the masses (i.e. – “dumbing down” the Gospel). No amount of meaningless and spiritually-irreverent activities, such as skateboard clubs, shopping malls in “churches,” and mass-market strategies, rock-and-roll “worship services,” and pop psychology like so many of these so-called “seeker-sensitive” proponents advocate will ever replace the true Gospel message of holiness and consecration to Christ. The focus of evangelization, in short, is not to conform the Church to culture, but rather to transform people to Christ. Evangelization, in its truest sense, is NOT “seeker-sensitive”: it is Truth-proclaiming!! For one called into the five-fold evangelist calling, it involves using the individuality God gifted all of us with to reach who God leads us to reach. As individuals, we do it by reflection – our lifestyles and attitude are to reflect Christ to the world, as we are “living icons” of Christ. The evangelist with the five-fold calling goes a step further in using things like the media, etc., to proclaim the truth of Christ. The office of evangelist is not on the personal level that many of us are in our day-to-day lifestyles, but with the tools God provides, this person can be very effective. That is why all the spiritual gifts are relevant for today, for Christ died not only to save our souls, but also to renew our spirits, heal our bodies, and deliver us from those things that vex us and place us into bondage. The blood of Christ is key here, for as the old hymn goes, there is “Power in the Blood”! Of course, some caught up in the “seeker-sensitive” mentality think now that the Blood is offensive, and in that they are deceiving people. However, we as Catholic and Orthodox Christians are reminded of it every week, as we experience the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Mystery of the Eucharist. However, even in our Churches, people take that for granted – the Blood is not taught as it should be, and even priests are celebrating the Eucharist without even believing in its power. This is a sad commentary on American Christianity, for in the Cup of Salvation there is life, healing, and peace. Jesus died that we might live, and the Holy Eucharist is there to bring that to life for us. The greatest evangelist will always preach the Blood; one in the Church will always proclaim the power of the Holy Eucharist and its importance in our pilgrimage of salvation. The Blood is the antidote for our sins, of which all of us are stained by. The task of the evangelist is to proclaim that to the world, both as a living truth and as part of his own testimony.
The spiritual gifts also accompany the evangelist, for they are charismatic gifts. The whole idea of Charismatic is not something that just popped up out of nowhere at the Azuza Street Mission in 1906. Nor was it just at Albury in the 1830’s, when a movement that precursored the Pentecostals was birthed called the Catholic Apostolic Church. It is not even a denomination or a church body – Charismatic is derivative of the Greek word
Charismata, and literally interpreted it means a “gift of grace.” It is all over the Eastern Church and its doctrines, for the Kyrie Eleison (meaning “Lord have mercy{or grace, if you will}) is sung and is also the focus of the Jesus Prayer. It is found as well in the term
Kerygma, which means “proclamation” and is related to evangelism. So, in essence, the evangelistic office, with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, is about the proclamation of divine grace, which ultimately is the Cross of Christ and His subsequent Resurrection, sung about in the Easter Liturgies as “Christ has risen from the dead, hath trampled death by death, and to those in the tombs He granted life!” That is the fundamental message of the evangelistic office – Christ died that we might have life. And, it does not just extend to the hereafter, as God is very concerned with our present condition – that is the full Gospel
message that the old-time Pentecostals lived by, and that is why Mark 16 states that “these signs shall follow those that believe…” In recent years, the growing skepticism in mainline Christianity that downplays the supernatural has tried to say this passage does not belong in the Bible, a lot of it being due to the fact some factions calling themselves “Christian” do not even believe in the cardinal doctrines of the faith, much less in a supernatural God. These people, however, are not true Christians but are apostates, and because Christ does not live in them in the first place, they deny His truths and the power of His Blood. However, Mark 16 is also the hallmark of the evangelistic office, for the signs of a living God will convert people who seek answers to what is missing in their lives, and in Christ is life. If the one genuinely called to the office of an evangelist will preach Christ and only Christ, the signs will follow, as the Gospel message is one of freedom and power over evil and bondage of all kinds. Mankind needs a message of hope like this, and the evangelist is charged with bringing that message. This therefore means that there is a symbiotic bond between the born-again experience and the infilling of the Holy Spirit – the message of Pentecost is evangelistic!
Due to the high-profile nature of the evangelist, those called to this office are on the front lines and are at great risk; therefore, they must constantly be on guard, for the Devil hates
The Gospel and his sole task is to attempt to discredit it as well as its chosen messengers.
Since the messenger is human and weaker than his message, Satan has special priority to destroy evangelistic ministries. For years, those who have this calling have been often the subject of controversy and scandal, and some have fallen prey to the lusts of the flesh and have backslid; with them the witness and impact they could have had goes down the crapper, if you pardon the expression. This was vividly illustrated in the late 1980’s when a couple of high-profile Pentecostal television evangelists, Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart, had their ministries and lives totally decimated. Bakker ended up in prison, where fortunately he humbled himself, got his priorities straight, and is now leading a ministry that is not as prominent but still reaches people. Swaggart lost a lot of his membership, and although he’s still around, he unfortunately has not totally learned his lesson as he still badmouths Catholics and others. The point is that these, like so many other ministries, at times allowed things to be brought on them through weakness, while at other times some become indirect casualties to the fallout from others’ attacks. So many people over the years have fallen to sin, heresy, or both, and the loss to the Kingdom has been catastrophic. It is because of those inherent dangers that the evangelist must live a holy life, for Satan hates the message of Gospel and will try to destroy anyone that proclaims the eternal truths of the Gospel message; all he needs is an open door to do it. This will be discussed even more in detail when we discuss Ephesians 6, as that involves what this entails and is called spiritual warfare. To the evangelist, spiritual warfare is an important issue, for I personally believe evangelists have special targets on their lives and ministry. To that regard, the evangelist needs to make sure his posterior is covered at all times with a strong knowledge of the Word of God, a consistent and active prayer life, and he or she needs to know the spiritual discipline of fasting. The evangelist is human of course, and not immune to mistakes. However, honesty and humility are important, and to an evangelist they are vital assets. The fruit of the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5:22 comes into focus here, and although all Christians should bear fruit, it is the evangelist who must cultivate those fruits and develop them more fully. Satan knows the fruits are there and wants to destroy them, which again is why the evangelist is on the front lines – the evangelist not only has to cultivate fruit, but they also have to have the prayer covering of the saints.
The ministry of a healthy evangelist is a reproductive apparatus, if you will, of the Church. Through evangelism, the Church grows, which is why it is so important. Also, the work of the evangelist needs the support of the Body of Christ, which is why we should be generous in giving our time, talent, and treasure to the proclamation of the Gospel message. It is also worth noting that the evangelist, like others of the five-fold ministry, is not necessarily an ordained ministry nor is it gender-specific; men and women can be called to this ministry. Therefore, we ought to, as II Timothy 4:5 exhorts, “do the work of an evangelist” at least through supporting the work of those called to it full-time, if not actively called to it ourselves. Yet, we have an evangelistic mandate in a general sense as well – in being a vibrant witness and “living icons” of Christ to the world around us. With that being said, let us always intercede for, support, and encourage those with the special calling of the evangelistic office. Amen.
Questions for Reflection
1. What is the meaning of the word “evangelist”?
2. Are all Christians called to evangelize? Explain.
3. Why is it important for an evangelist to maintain humility and honesty in their ministry?
4. Why are the spiritual gifts important to the office of evangelist?
