And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity
of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-14, NKJV).

More than twenty people in the New Testament are referred to as apostles, a few as prophets, several as teachers, and a few (local church elders) as pastors of the churches. Only one person, however, is called an evangelist. Paul instructs Timothy to “do the work of an evangelist” (2 Timothy 4:5), but he was never called an evangelist. Only Philip, one of the original deacons (Acts 6), is called an evangelist (Acts 21:8).

The Greek word for evangelist is “euaggelistes,” pronounced “yoo-ang-ghel-is-tace,” which means “a preacher of the gospel.” From the beginning the term evangelist was used to describe all preachers of the good news. In this sense it referred to a large group of New Testament ministers who functioned in this capacity. Yet it was only one of the many functions of the apostles, prophets, teachers, and pastors. There were those whose entire ministry was to preach the gospel, to bring the opportunity of salvation to the unsaved. Philip, who was appointed along with Stephen as one of the seven deacons in Jerusalem, is the only New Testament example we are given of this ministry.

Over the centuries this ministry has not been given proper recognition on the local church level and it has slipped into gray territory. We often have evangelists trying to pastor local churches and pastors who are trying to travel as evangelists. This creates confusion for the saints, frustration for the ministers, and a lack of fruitfulness for the Kingdom. Some of our traditional viewpoints may lack clarity and accuracy because we have not seen the fullness of this ministry until recent years. Jesus is the pattern for all the New Testament ministries including the evangelist.

By looking at Philip’s ministry in Acts 8, we find the biblical characteristics for the New Testament evangelist:
1) He knows where the fields are ripe.
2) His primary message is Jesus Christ.
3) His preaching consistently bears the fruit of salvation.
4) His preaching is accompanied by miracles to confirm the Word.
5) His ministry brings joy because it involves true repentance.
6) He has a desire to seal the faith of new converts with water baptism.
7) He must recognize his limitations.
8) He must be willing to work with other ministries.
9) He should be an expert soul winner in crowds or one on one.
10) He must know the Word, to be able to preach Jesus from all Scripture.

The functions of the New Testament evangelist are:
1) To win the lost through preaching the gospel accompanied by miracles.
2) To train the saints to be soul winners.
3) To start and establish local churches with apostolic teams.

Vic and Toni Reichenbach are senior pastors at Casper Open Bible Church in Casper, Wyoming