Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers,to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up… (Ephesians 4:11-12)

The word evangelist comes direct to English from the Greek, being εὐαγγελιστής euaggelistés (Strongs 2099) from the verb euaggelizó, eu ‘good’ and angello ‘announce’, hence to announce something good:‘to bear good news’ – the good news being the Gospel of Christ. If it is such good news, how is it then so difficult to talk about this to people without an eternal hope in Christ? Why do most Christians think evangelism is not for them?  If we were asked to inform a person they had won the lottery, we would have no difficulty – yet the Gospel, with its eternal hope that trumps any lottery infinitely, we eschew.

The head passage tells us that there are some that are specifically chosen by Christ to be evangelists, one might think of individuals such as Billy Graham as an example. Yet Scripture is clear: every follower is to proclaim (or preach) the Gospel:

(Jesus) said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. (Mark 16:15)

It is instructive to examine this further; if telling people that Jesus and his sacrifice on the cross is good news was so easy, why would Jesus command it of his followers?  Reviewing the apostle Paul’s early evangelism to the pagans of Corinth, we may discover the reason.

In his first pastoral letter to the church he established, Paul moves to tackle divisions that have occurred over who baptised whom, and says this:

 For Christ did not send me to baptise, but to preach the gospel – not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.(1 Corinthians 1:17)

Devoid of wisdom and eloquence, does this sound like Paul?  Was it false modesty to say his preaching lacked in any way when his written word is fluent and powerful?  Could it be his writing is God-breathed, but his speech was not?  However, we must believe the self-assessment of his own oratory, not simply because such a Godly man could be disingenuous, let alone dishonest; we may believe him for he makes this statement:

When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.  For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.  I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling.  My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.  (ibid 2:1-5)

Paul the great apostle to the Gentiles, arguably the greatest evangelist of the early church, was diminished by God to proclaim in weakness; moreover, the man who amongst a life of hardship received eight severe beatings, survived a stoning and was thrice ship-wrecked only to dismiss them as ‘light and momentary troubles’ (2 Corinthians 4:17) shook with fear.  Such is God’s will on the matter; foremost he will be glorified, the comfort of the evangelist is secondary.

Also, we should note, the message was simple: Jesus Christ and him crucified.  Paul did not bring the complex doctrine he unfolds in, say, the letter to the church of Rome.  And there is good reason for this, as Peter comments:

…our dear brother Paul (also) wrote to you with the wisdom that God gave him.  He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.  (2 Peter 3:15-16)

Later in the epistle to Corinth, he describes exactly what that simple message contained:

I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand.  By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas,and then to the Twelve.  After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.  Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.  (ibid 15;1-8)

This is the Gospel of Christ.  If you wish, the essential truth.  And it is important to realise this.  The Gospel is not only sufficient, it is the only message the evangelist should bring unless arguments ensue or confusion obfuscates; therefore, understanding what it is and what it is not is critical.

The Gospel is not, for instance, that God loves you.  Can any say who God loves?

The Gospel is not a listing of Jesus performing miracles, healing cripples or raising the dead. Nor is it the story of Israel, the creation story or the coming of the new kingdom.  It is about Jesus submitting himself to the cross for us all.

Notwithstanding, Billy Graham described the cross as offensive.  And certainly, it offends natural justice that an innocent man must pay with his life for others’ misdeeds; moreover, to the unregenerate, who necessarily judges himself by his own standards and believes her/himself good enough for God, to be told that you are inherently too evil for God and that no amount of good work or character building can correct this offends our pride.

Thus, to those who feel themselves righteous, or powerful, or independent, or self-made, in other words to the natural man who either denies or disowns God; for those who see no role for Him in their life, this message is not good news, but irrelevant, superfluous babbling.  As Paul writes:

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.  (ibid 1:18)

 Paul goes on to ask (v20), ‘has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?’

From the earthly and temporal perspective then, the Gospel is utter foolishishness; hence, for every rational man or woman only God can bring about the repentance that reverses this view.  There is no humanly power, whether that of oratory, argument or persuasion that can bring people to faith.  It is God that reveals the Gospel through his Spirit.  This what Scripture teaches us.

Jesus, when asked by his disciples why he teaches in the extended metaphor of parables, answers:

Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.  (Matthew 13:11)

The disciples have received revelation, revelation that had been restricted previously (13:17).  It is for Jesus to reveal himself directly in his earthly ministry or through the Helper following his ascension.   Again, in this passage, we see that God alone is glorified, never the disciple.  Revelation is a blessing and is a product of God’s grace.

All this explains why there is no spiritual gift of evangelism in lists found in Romans 12:6-8; 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 & 28, Ephesians 4:11 and 1 Peter 4:11.  Rather, every follower of Christ is commanded to evangelise (Mark 16:15) because the experience of doing so will not be easy for most.  You risk scorn, or worse and that is the risk that God would have us take, trusting He always work for the best interests of those that love and serve him according to his purpose (Romans 10:18).  Yet through his grace, Jesus reassures us thus:

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.  Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.(Matthew 5:11-12)

Presenting the Gospel is a commandment precisely because it is not natural, easy or comfortable but difficult, incurring jeopardy even with fatal consequences, but the burden on growing his Kingdom is on God.  None need worry about successful conversion.  He alone choses those that will receive the Word in their hearts.

Bearing this in mind should come as a great relief the next time we stand before someone and hesitantly and clumsily speak of Jesus the chosen one who died for our offences against God, as predicted in the Hebrew Bible, and how he was buried and was resurrected on the third day, once more as predicted.  And that this Jesus was seen in his resurrection body by a number of individuals, in groups and large numbers, so that this is an historical and attributable fact.

To feel weak, tongue-tied, awkward, embarrassed and foolish is to share the experience of the apostle Paul.  It is God’s will that it should be so.  Or are we to provoke our God to ‘burn with anger’ by arguing with him as Moses did about his fitness to speak for Him?  I suspect the LORD’s answer will be much the same, in any case:

Moses said to the Lord, ‘Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.’

 The Lord said to him, ‘Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord?  Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.’  (Exodus 4:10-12)

Likewise, if we do God’s work in proclaiming the Gospel, we must trust Him that our words will be sufficient to achieve His purpose.