The office of Evangelist

[Pergamum]

What is it?

Is this a role or an office?

Can any do the work of an evangelist without being an evangelist?

What is the Bible supports for this role?

Has it ceased?

What is his job?

What denominations still practice this role?


How is an evangelist defined in relation to a missionary? To a pastor?

---------- Post added at 12:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:52 AM ----------

Also a good definition of the differences between an official church "office," versus a church "role" or "function" or "gifting" would be nice as well.

---------- Post added at 12:56 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:55 AM ----------

Also a good definition of the differences between an official church "office," versus a church "role" or "function" or "gifting" would be nice as well.

 

[Jack K]

What denominations still practice this role?

The Christian Reformed Church created a fourth office, "evangelist," in the late 70s. The idea was to give to men who were not seminary trained but were working as missionaries or church planters the authority to act in many ways as ordained pastors, preaching and administering sacraments and the like. My dad was a CRC missionary at the time and became ordained as an evangelist. He found office designation helpful in his ministry.

But the office quickly evolved into something other than originally intended. Youth pastors and music directors and the like started getting ordained as evangelists, and it became a path to ordination for just about anyone hired by a church to full-time ministry work. About ten years ago the CRC, recognizing this, did away with the "evangelist" designation. They're now called "ministry associates" and the missionary/planter emphasis of the office is not what it used to be. It now lives on in part because the CRC is struggling to fill all its pulpits with seminary-trained pastors, so these associates are needed especially in smaller, poorer congregations.

It seems to me that the evangelist's task is one that meets the standard of an "office" in the New Testament. The Acts 13 commissioning of Paul and Barnabas speaks to that. Whether we should consider this a separate office from that of pastor or elder is less clear. I do believe that if the church considers an non-seminary trained man gifted and called to serve as a missionary or church planter, and sends him out, it ought to invest him with the authority to preach and administer the sacraments. And then the church must provide the sort of training, aid and oversight that ensures such authority is well-regulated and the office is clearly defined.

 

[Pergamum]

Jack,

Most missionaries do not baptize or administer the sacraments. And historically, about 63-65% of the misssionary force among Protestants have been women. What do we do with the great majority of missionaries who are non-ordained and mostly non-ordainable?

 

[MLCOPE2]

 

[Jack K]

Jack,

Most missionaries do not baptize or administer the sacraments. And historically, about 63-65% of the misssionary force among Protestants have been women. What do we do with the great majority of missionaries who are non-ordained and mostly non-ordainable?

Not everyone on a mission team would be called to administer sacraments, just as not everyone is called to preach. I was thinking more of those whose role on the team is that sort of work. It seems strange to send out gospel preachers and then have no one around who may baptize the converts or administer the Lord's Supper once a church is formed. If you want to be able to send out evangelists who are not seminary trained, yet you have a Presbyterian/Reformed sort of understanding about safeguarding the sacraments by limiting who administers them, then ordaining some qualified team members as evangelists does make a certain amount of sense. And the idea has at least some biblical support. Like I said, though, what I saw of the practice in the CRC seemed to have both benefits and pitfalls.

In the case of my dad, his role on the team was very much like that of a pastor, preaching and teaching and visiting. There were others on the team who had other roles. My dad was the only one ordained as an evangelist. BTW, he eventually completed more training and then became an ordained minister.

 

[Pergamum]

Jack, Yes, it is ideal to have an elder-qualified man at least regionally, if not as part of each church-planting team.

 

[Kevin]

Perg, in the PCA an evangelist is a TE that holds a one year commission as an Evangelist to organize a church as a missionary or church planter. An Evangelist differs from a regular TE in that we have the authority (according to our (BCO) to ordain elders & deacons on our own. We do not require a commission from the presbytery to hold an ordination.

The office is normally extended until such time as other elders have been ordained. And it is used in areas where it is not practical to appoint an outside session to oversee a church planter or missionary. I am an Evangelist in the PCA to do the work of a church planter.

 

[Pergamum]

Kevin,

Thanks for the info.

Are all missionaries evangelists?