What is the gift of evangelism?

Evangelism, or the preaching of the gospel, is an essential part of Christianity.   How else can people hear about the message of salvation unless they hear someone proclaiming the gospel?  The Apostle Paul makes this point clear in his letter to the Romans, as he begins by quoting the Prophet Joel’s proclamation [Joel 2:32] of how everyone can be saved and then continues on with rhetorical questions about how we can hear the same message today.

“…, ’Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’  How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in?  And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?  And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” (Romans 10:13-14 NIV)

The Apostle Paul later lists evangelism, among other spiritual gifts, in his letter to the Ephesians.

“But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it…It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up unit we all reach unity in the faith and knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:7, 11-13 NIV)

The aforementioned passage indicates that the gift of evangelism serves a unique role in relation to the other spiritual gifts such as apostleship, prophesizing, shepherding and teaching.  For instance, the gift of apostleship helps believers serve as ambassadors of the gospel, the gift of teaching helps believers apply the Word of God to their lives, and the gift of prophecy helps believers understand God’s sovereignty.  Similarly, in regard to the gift of evangelism, the Holy Spirit helps believers proclaim the message of salvation to unbelievers, in a manner that results in them putting their faith in God.

On a side note, the function of evangelism is not necessarily synonymous with that of shepherding or vice versa.  For example, you may have a believer with the gift of evangelism, but not the gift of pastoring or shepherding, who serves as a youth pastor and incidentally many young people turning their lives over God.  In this scenario, the church leadership could possibly make the mistake of viewing this youth pastor’s conversion results as being equivalent with shepherding and leadership qualities.  As a result, you may end up in a situation where the church leadership accidentally appoints this youth pastor to a senior pastor leadership position, even though he or she may not have a shepherd’s heart (the spiritual gift of shepherding) in regard to watching over the spiritual welfare of the believers in the church and bringing them into fellowship with one another.

In other words, there are many believers who have the gift of evangelism.  Some of these believers are in church leadership positions as pastors, while others are active members within their congregations and communities.  Yet, you still other believers with the gift of evangelism, as well as the gift of apostleship, who may represent their local churches and/or denominations/affiliations as traveling evangelists spreading the message of salvation to others in different areas of the world.  Regardless, evangelism is an intricate part of the church since people need to hear about the message of gospel…so they can ultimately have the hope of putting their faith in God.