Evangelistic Gifts for Multiplication

 

Hello everybody, my name is Dean Davis, and this is “Multiply,” the podcast that provides a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters.

Every Christian is commanded to make disciples; every Christian is commanded to preach the Gospel to others. But God in has grace has equipped some Christ-followers with an amazing ability to share the Good News and help people put their trust in Christ.  These are your brothers and sisters who have the gift of evangelism. They may or may not be called “Evangelist,” but they make sharing the message of salvation a top priority. Gifted evangelists take the Good News to people; they find persons of peace; they persuade others to trust Christ as Lord and Savior.

Like every other kind of gifted leader, evangelists need to be recognized and helped to minister as teammates with other gifted leaders such as apostles, prophets, pastors, and teachers. Sometimes it’s hard to coordinate the work of evangelists with the other work of the church. That’s because evangelists often want to go where the rest of the church is not ready to go. Evangelists are so burdened with the lost condition of people who have not heard or understood the Good News that, at times, they move out alone to witness for Christ.

This impulse to go and evangelize is praiseworthy, but it will bear much more fruit if it is coordinated with the work of pastors and teachers.

Pastors and teachers are often more sedentary than evangelists. Pastors want to protect and feed the sheep already in the flock and in the fold. Teachers want to instruct believers. By nature, they are not always ready to leave ninety-nine sheep in the fold to go out with an evangelist to rescue one lost sheep. But pastors and teachers need evangelists, and evangelists need pastors and teachers. Before evangelists go out to evangelize, they need to have a clear, workable plan to teach their converts to obey all that Jesus commanded, just as Matthew 28:20 says they should. Gifted pastors and gifted teachers should support evangelists in the instruction of new converts. Churches should plan for such instruction so that the good seed of the Gospel, sown by the evangelist, is not wasted when weeds grow up and try to choke out the faith of new believers.  Simply put, the gifted evangelist needs a plan for follow-up of new believers. It is not enough just to help them express faith in Christ; they must be discipled. Pastors and teachers will need to get outside their comfort zone to ensure that new believers who are not well connected to their congregations get the care and instruction they need.

In many parts of the world, people are ready and willing to pray to receive Christ, and they do so when invited. But for some reason, many who pray do not persist in faith after seeing a Christian film or after receiving an evangelist in their home. There are several reasons for this falling away. but church-based ministry, in which the work of evangelists is respected and well-coordinated with the work of gifted pastors and teachers will yield greater long-term fruit for God’s Kingdom.

So, if you’re are an evangelist, share this podcast episode with trusted pastors and teachers and talk it over with them. And if you have pastoral gifts or teaching gifts, get together with the evangelists in your church and tell them you appreciate them. Then make a plan to better coordinate your respective ministries to advance God’s kingdom. You will be glad you did!

 

I’m Dean Davis, asking, “Who will you share this encouraging word with today?

 

#EncouragementForVillageChurchPlanters #Evangelist #FiveFoldMinistry