Let Your Evangelists Be Heard

An article by Rev Dr. Alex Harris

"Let Your Evangelists Be Heard" is an emphasis Alex Harris has bought and explored in several of our local churches, other Associations, ministers’ conferences and wider settings. It comes out of the Firestarters Network experience of growing churches recorded in On This Rock, as well as rooted in more empirical research. Alex is seeking to offer the biblical foundations and practical approaches to empowering evangelists within your church as crucial to see any church grow through new people becoming Christians.

Christ Gave Evangelists to Equip the Church

Rooted in Ephesians 4:11-13, Alex emphasises that Christ gave the church apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to equip the body of Christ for service and spiritual maturity. All those voices are need for a church to be healthy and growing. He argues that pastors and administrators – such as church secretary or treasurer positions - often have a dominant voice in church leadership settings with an emphasis on harmony and organisation. However, the evangelists' voices are sometimes overlooked or treated with caution meaning it can be more challenging to see churches significantly growing through conversions. Alex advocates for a more balanced and intentional recognition of evangelists’ contributions not to mute other essential voices but welcome the neglect one.

He suggests that modern Baptist churches often rely heavily on pastors and administrators for setting direction and shaping culture, which can inadvertently silence the role of evangelists. Alex calls for amplifying the voices of evangelist, recognizing their role in building up the body of Christ in a more rounded and healthy way.

Practical Steps to Empower Evangelists

Alex offers three simple ways every church could explore welcoming the evangelists’ voice

1. Identify – Recognise and affirm the evangelists within the church and actively find ways for their voice to be welcomed into leadership spaces. They don’t need to be formally elected – perhaps that isn’t appropriate – but they could come along as guests, or comment on key decisions.

2. Borrow – Perhaps there aren’t evangelists obviously in the church yet. Then borrow one! Learn from the practices and insights of successful evangelists locally or ask your regional team for a contact. Alex offers himself – as a self-identified ‘evangelist’ – always ready to reflect with ministers and leadership teams on ‘what would the evangelist say’.

3. Pretend – Why not simply encourage others to adopt the mindset and practices of evangelists, even if they do not feel naturally gifted in this area. Just pausing in a leadership meeting before a key decision is made and asking ‘what would the evangelist say here’ can be very helpful.

What If I Am Not An Evangelist?

Alex addresses the common challenge of not feeling naturally gifted as an evangelist, especially thinking of ministers who might have been called, trained and equipped to be pastors and teachers. Drawing from 2 Timothy 4:5, he underscores that the work of evangelism is not solely based on gifting but on obedience. ‘…do the work of an evangelist…’ is an encouragement to all ministers, like Timothy, who are more naturally pastoral but need to act as an evangelist. He encourages ministers especially to approach evangelism as a learned behaviour – something that can be taught - rather than a natural gift. He encourages ministers to ‘do the work of an evangelist’ even if it creates personal discomfort!

Five Next Steps for Doing the Work of an Evangelist

Alex outlines five clear and practical steps for ministers who want to ‘do the work of the evangelist’ – basically do what an evangelist does by instinct, through obedience.

1. Pray
   How can you regularly pray for non-Christians by name? How can you be asking God that they’d become Christians? Can you do this every day?

2. Priority
   How do you make sure you give your best energy and best time to non-Christians with intention of explaining Jesus? How can you make your best friendships with those who don’t yet know Jesus? How could you put aside time every week for street evangelism, door knocking, or some other way of engaging people with Jesus?

3. Proclaim
   When you teach the Bible how to you make sure a non-Christian could become a Christian?

4. Empower
   How can you empower yourself to be a better ‘evangelist’? What training/ relationships do you need? What about your church?

5. Permission
   How can you give permission to those voices that will most catalyse your church in evangelism? Who are they? What platform do you have access to they don’t, and how can you empower them to step up?

Call to Action

Quoting Walt Disney, "The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing” Alex challenges church leaders and members to engage in evangelism actively, regardless of their natural inclinations, and to foster a culture where evangelists are heard and supported.

Conclusion

In summary Alex is encouraging a shift in church culture to embrace and empower evangelists as vital contributors to the health and growth of the churches. Ensuring that the voices of evangelists are valued and, in this way, see our churches not only be healthy (with pastors, teachers and administrators all heard) but also growing (with the evangelist voice welcomed too).

If you’d like Alex’s help with any of this reach out at alex.harris@yba.org.uk or alex.harris@sthild.org