What Happened to the Preacher?

       Have you ever wondered why preachers move from one church to another.  It seems like it's a continual rotation.  And, we've all seen it.  We can't deny that it happens and all too often.

 

       Now, sometimes it needs to happen.  Sometimes the problem is that the doctrine of the church is out of line with the Scripture.  Sometimes the evangelist's doctrine is messed up.  So, if there's a doctrinal conflict, either the church or evangelist need to re-evaluate their beliefs and teachings.  Unfortunately, if any change does take place, it's usually the grounded evangelist being forced to compromise at least part of the truth in order to continue with that particular congregation.  In my personal experience, I've never seen a mistaken-doctrine congregation tolerate the full gospel.  I find both of these situations saddening.

 

       But also, and perhaps more disturbing, is the situation where the evangelist is expected to be more than human.  And this is, in my opinion, more harmful to the Lord's Church than the circumstances I mentioned earlier. 

 

       Now, while I do agree that the evangelist is to try his best to live a life of example to the church and the community, I find it difficult to accept the fact that he is expected to be infallible.  And, as he lives his life under a microscope (for reasons beyond my reckoning), his faults seem to be more obvious than the faults of others'.  At times, it seems, that there are those within the church who, instead of assisting and praying for the one whose heart and mind in practically constantly straining for their salvation, go out of their way to find fault.

 

       Then, instead of personally coming to him to give him counsel, they go about the business of "fact finding" to later confront him with accusations, while standing upon his head, throwing Scripture at him to point out his faults, within a group.  Why?  What do they expect out of this man who, although he does make mistakes (he is human, right?), thinks more of them that he does himself?  Why does he get ambushed?  Really!  Let's call it what it is!

 

       Where did we ever get the idea that the evangelist is without fault?  Where did we ever get the idea that our mistakes are to be overlooked, but the preacher's are to be pointed out, driven in, and unforgiven?  Where did we ever get the idea that, if our neighbor sins against us, we're to go to them and try to work it out, but, if it's the preacher, he's out of work?

 

       Funny how that works...

Elders And Evangelists: Who Are The Leaders?

Elders And Evangelists: Who Are The Leaders?

(Eph.4:11-16)

       The last few weeks, we’ve been looking at the roles of both the Elder and Evangelist in the Theocratic Christian Church, and I’d like to take just a couple of minutes to review some of the things that we’ve discussed, so far.

          The very first thing that we talked about was the type of governing that was to be in the Church. The three types we looked at were: An Autocratic government where one man is in charge. The second was a Democratic government where the congregation was in charge. Then, the Theocratic government where God was in charge. We came to the conclusion that the only way for this to be God’s Church is to allow Him to have the supreme authority, and the rest of us work as His servants in whatever capacity He sees fit to put us in.

          After that, we began looking at the Eldership and concluded that the title of the elder means nothing if the work of the elder goes undone. We determined that for a man to truly be an elder, he must desire a good work. He must shepherd his flock by leading by example. And again, leading. Not pushing.

          We also looked at the qualifications that the Bible gives us for our elders. We found that some are pretty plain and simple, while others require a little more study to gain a better understanding of the context and intent.

          Then, we moved on to the Evangelist. We saw, by looking at the Scripture, that this man is as much a part of God’s pattern for the Church as the elder. But, we also discussed some of the problems within the Church today, concerning the evangelist and his inability to fulfill his God-given role because of the secularization that has taken place within it. We talked about how the preacher is all too often looked upon as a hired hand and, along with that, given over to do the work of the elders and the congregation on top of his own responsibilities, which did not come from either of these groups, but from God. And we saw, last week, a pretty extensive list of those responsibilities. We talked about how this expectation of being THE worker for the church could lead the evangelist to think of himself as the “Pastor”. But, he’s not a pastor. He’s an evangelist. God’s word makes a clear distinction: Eph 4:11 “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers.”

          So again, Christ has given these gifts to the Church “for the equipping of the saints for the work of service”( Eph 4:12) But, as both are servants of the Lord, which one has more authority within the local congregation of the Lord’s Church? I mean, the pastors are to oversee the flock. So does that give them the supreme position in the human leadership of the Church? And the evangelist: he’s charged with setting the Church in order. So is he the so called “leader” of the congregation? If we go by Scripture, which we always must, which of these two offices has the most authority?

          Let’s look again at Eph 4:11. In this Scripture, does the inspired Apostle Paul show any type of hierarchy in these gifts from Christ? Does the Scripture say, “some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers to rule over them”? Does it say, “some as evangelists to oversee the pastors and teachers”? No. The Bible says nothing of the kind. Paul, here, puts the evangelists and the elders on a level playing field.

          “But”, someone might say, “the elders are the overseers of the church and the evangelist is somebody we pay to work for the church”. And, since he gets paid, he’s not actually a part of the congregation. He’s an employee. But, is that what the Word of God says.

          I’d like us all to turn to 1Tim 5:17-18. This reads, “The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, ‘YOU SHALL NOT MUZZLE THE OX WHILE HE IS THRESHING,’ and ‘The laborer is worthy of his wages.’” Now notice, Paul isn’t speaking of the evangelist. He’s saying that the ELDERS who rule well are worthy of their wages. So I have a question. If we consider the evangelist an employee because he receives a wage, should we not also consider elders employees, as well?

          Well certainly, no one is going to say that the elders are employees of the church. That’s ridiculous! The elders are members of the congregation! The majority of the time, the evangelist, even though the elders are to be paid too, is rarely considered a member of the congregation, but an employee.

          Is this God’s plan or man’s pattern? Is this how God operates or is this how the world around us operates? This isn’t a rhetorical question. You tell me now, what’s the answer! In God’s eyes, am I a part of this congregation or not? In God’s eyes, how different am I, in that respect, than an elder?

          Someone might say, “But I’ve always been taught that the elders are the head of the church”. Didn’t we cover that a few weeks ago? Didn’t we learn that no man is the head of the church, but Christ and Christ alone? Didn’t we learn that both the elders and evangelists are servant leaders of the congregation; that the elders and evangelists are to lead by example and serve the saints and, by doing so, they serve the Lord? Didn’t we discuss the difference between your employer and your church leaders? Haven’t we learned that Christ’s gifts are to lead the flock, not push, as the world does?

          I know that these questions might sound a little harsh. But, we have to understand that we, as Christians are not to be influenced by the world, but are to be an influence upon the world. We, as Christians have made a commitment to God to follow His teachings and His commands! And we also have to remember that we get our instructions from God, through His word, not the congregation down the road.

          So, let’s look at the question, again, of which man has the most authority in the congregation. We know that it could be no one else but the elders or evangelist. We might wonder about the deacons, but their role is totally different, and we’ll be looking at that next week. For now, suffice it to say that the deacons have no spiritual authority within the church.

          But, concerning the relationship between the elders and evangelist, let’s look at their shared functions. When we look at this diagram of the structure of the Church, we see that Christ is at the top as the Head, the Scriptures as the Guide, and the Body which is served. Then, under them, are the elders and evangelist. But wait! That has to be wrong! The elders are the leaders!...No, the elders and evangelist are servants. They lead by showing and assisting the Body in performing its function.

          Then, we see coming from the elders and evangelist these things: Equipping, Leading, Evangelizing, Shepherding, and Edifying. Of course, there are other responsibilities that are assigned specifically to both offices, as we’ve discussed, but let’s not be mistaken: there are some that are equally shared between the two offices.

          They both have the same major functions: Equipping the Saints; The Work of Ministry; and Edifying the Body of Christ.

          Both offices have similar job descriptions: Guarding their own life; Watching over the flock; Feeding the flock; Overseeing the flock; and Being an example to the flock.

          Both are accountable to each other: In reference to the elders, Paul wrote in 1Ti 5:22 “Do not lay hands upon anyone too hastily and thereby share responsibility for the sins of others; keep yourself free from sin.” He also wrote concerning the evangelist in 1Ti 4:14 “Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery.” Again, as we said last week, presbytery also means the group of elders.

          And then again, both offices originated in the same order. Paul didn’t write in Ephesians four that Christ gave the evangelist and then the pastor/teacher. Neither did he write that Christ gave the pastor/teacher and then the evangelist. He wrote the Christ gave both evangelist and elder; together; to bring about the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God until we attain the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:13). How can that happen unless the elders and evangelist, instead of being at odds with each other, work together for the sake of the church?

          We see this same situation in another important part of our lives…politics. To the average person, most of us, I think, would like to see the people in our government do what’s good for us, the people, instead of what seems best for their own party. How many of us get fed up with this? I know I am! I mean, we’ve elected those people to look after OUR best interests. But, it seems to me that they’re better at looking after their own best interest and special interests. They just can’t seem to get that we put them where they are to be “Public Servants”. Whatever happened to that idea? Does it seem to you that, if more politicians would remember that’s what they are: our country, which is the citizens, would be better off?

          Well, if we feel that way about our government, why wouldn’t we have that feeling even stronger about a more important institution: the Church? Why do we complain about the politicians being a servant of their party rather than a servant of the people? Why do we hear the words partisanship or bipartisanship so much when it comes to our government? Why does partisanship in our government upset us while, at the same time, we allow it in the Church, and see it as the way it’s meant to be? We see the elders as one party and the evangelist as another; both constantly being in conflict with each other? Is conflict what the Lord desires in His Church? Is God the author of confusion? Did not Jesus pray for unity, not division, in His Church? And if we are to strive for unity, why do we set ourselves up for division by creating factions where oneness is to be?...

          From the beginning, there was never meant to be a rift in the Church. Each individual person, each Christian, has always been, and is still, meant to perform a function within the Lord’s Church. He’s given each and every one of us gifts to use specifically for the building up and the unity of His people. That means we are to work together, using our God-given gifts, to help one another come to maturity in Christ. We can take such simple ideas and let them get away from us by bringing the world’s ways into our life of worship.

          Who is the true leader of the Church? Jesus Christ. He gave us elders and evangelists to work together, in harmony, as fellow bond-servants, for the building up of His Kingdom.

          Let’s not put division where Christ desires unity. Let’s not put strife where Christ desires togetherness. Let’s each strive to follow the Lord, and allow His gifts to lead us in that following, as we work out our salvation, together.

      

      

      

      

The Work of the Evangelist Pt.2

The Work of the Evangelist Pt. 2

Adapted from an article from Michael W. Pemberton

       Last week, we began to discuss what the role of the evangelist is in Christ’s church. We learned that he is a gift from Christ to the church and he’s given the responsibility of appointing elders and making them accountable. But, this week, to help us better understand the work of the evangelist, we’ll begin by comparing it to the work of the elders.

          First, the elders’ work is to be within the church. No, I’m not talking about a building, but the congregation. They are to be able to teach (1Tim 3:2). They are to watch over souls (Heb 13:17), be protectors (Titus 1:9-11), be overseers (Acts 20:28), ordain evangelists (1Tim 4:4), feed the flock (Acts 20:28), be examples (1Pet 5:14), visit the sick (James 5:15), and equip the saints for works of ministry (Eph 4:11-12).

          The elder is the one who visits the members of the church in their homes because he is the overseer, and that word means that he does so by visitation. He is also the pastor or shepherd because he’s the one who feeds and protects the flock.

On the other hand, the evangelist’s work is to be both inside as well as outside the church. His work inside the church includes: edifying, educating, and equipping the saints for works of ministry and service (Eph 4:11-12); setting the church in order (Titus 1:5); ordaining elders (Titus 1:5, 1Tim 5:22); correcting disorderly churches (1Tim 1:3); rebuking sinning elders (1Tim 5:17-20), and recruiting and training workers (2Tim 2:2). Now, let’s take a few minutes to look at the Biblical duties of the evangelist in more detail.

The evangelist is the one who is to set the church in order; not the elders, not the deacons, not the church board, and not a men’s meeting. In God’s divine order, it’s the evangelist who is to set the church in order.

Now I realize that the letters that Paul wrote to Timothy and Titus are many times referred to as the “Pastoral Epistles”. But we have to understand that these letters are not written to pastors or elders, but to evangelists; telling them their duties and how to conduct their ministries. If things aren’t right and nothing is being done to make it right, it’s the evangelist’s Biblical duty to see that things are made right and set it in place. If there’s a wheel that needs greased and no one else is greasing the wheel, it’s the evangelist’s job to see that it’s greased.

So, let’s take a look at the letters that Paul wrote to these evangelists and what his instructions were.

The evangelist is to:

1.                 Rebuke false teachers (1 Tim. 1:3)

2.                 See that fables and divisions are avoided (1Tim 1:4)

3.                 Encourage love, good conscience, and true faith (1Tim. 1:5)

4.                 Encourage prayer for all men (1Tim 2:1-2)

5.                 Encourage prayer by all men (1Tim 2:8)

6.                 See that women dress modestly and decently, behaving as women            professing godliness and that a woman is not teaching or exerting authority   over the man (1Tim 2:9-14)

7.                 Ordain godly men as elders and deacons (1Tim 3)

8.                 Warn of false teachers (1Tim 4:1-5)

9.                 See that the Word of God is not taken out of the worship service (1Tim   4:13)

10.            Be an example (1Tim 4:16)

11.            Ensure godly relationships (1Tim 5:1-2)

12.            See that true widows are taken care of (1Tim 5:3-16)

13.            See that the elders who rule well are paid (1Tim 5:17-18)

14.            Rebuke elders that sin at the mouth of two or three witnesses (1Tim 5:19-   20)

15.            Do nothing out of partiality or favoritism (1Tim 5:21)

16.            Ordain and appoint elders (1Tim 5:22, Titus 1:5)

17.            See that employees give honor to their employers, especially those who are   Christians (1Tim:6:1-2)

18.            Warn the rich not to fall into temptation (1Tim 6:9)

19.            Warn the rich not to be high minded, but to have their hope in God (1Tim   6:17)

20.            See that God’s people are rich in good deeds, generous, and are willing to   share (1Tim 6:18)

21.            See that there is no godless chatter or non-Biblical “knowledge” such as   humanism or evolution (1Tim 6:20)

22.            Not be ashamed but a partaker (2Tim 1:8)

23.            Not to be ashamed but persuaded (2Tim 1:12)

24.            Not to be ashamed of godly brothers (2Tim 1:16)

25.            Persevere in the gospel (2Tim 2:1)

26.            Be a good soldier of Christ (2Tim 2:3)

27.            Be a hard working “farmer” and first partaker (2Tim 2:6)

28.            Be a student of the Word of God (2Tim 2:15)

29.            Be a good and honorable vessel (2Tim 2:21)

30.            Be a good servant and not quarrelsome (2Tim 2:24)

31.            Keep reminding the church of the trustworthy saying: “For if we died with   Him, we will also live with Him; If we endure, we will also reign with   Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us; If we are faithless, He remains   faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.” (2Tim 2:11-14)

32.            Warn others about quarreling over words (2Tim 2:14)

33.            Continue in the things he has learned, especially when challenged by   deceivers  (2Tim 3:14)

34.            Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke,   exhort, with great patience and instruction. (2Tim 4:2)

35.            Teach the older men to be temperate, respectable, self-controlled, and   sound  in faith, love and endurance. (Titus 2:2)

36.            Teach older women to be reverent in the way they live so they can train the   young women to love their husbands and children, to be sober-minded,   pure, kind, and respectful to their husbands so the Word of God will not be   dishonored (Titus 2:3-5)

37.            Teach the church to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be kind and   considerate, and to show true humility to all men (Titus 3:1-3)

38.            Warn those who are divisive, and after the second warning have nothing       more to do with them (Titus 3:10)

That’s quite a list, huh?

These are the things that the evangelist is given to do by the Word of God to set the church in order. This is the work that the evangelist does within the church.

Now, if you’ll remember, I said that there is also work for the evangelist outside the church. We can see examples of this if we take a look at the life of the Apostle Paul.

Acts 13:2-5 says this: “While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia and from there they sailed to Cyprus. When they reached Salamis, they began to proclaim the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews.”

Paul was already an apostle. So what were he and Barnabas ordained to do? When we look at the work they did, we have to come to the conclusion that they were sent out to do the work of an evangelist; taking the gospel to those who hadn’t heard it and establishing new congregations.

You see, the evangelist isn’t meant to be a pastor; he’s meant to be an evangelist. That being the case, whenever he can, he is to attempt to establish churches where none exist. In other words, his responsibility outside the church is to be a church planter sent out from his home congregation. Romans 10:14-15 tells us, “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, "HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!"

Today, it seems, that formal education is a necessity for a man to be given an opportunity to preach the gospel. I wonder what college Timothy attended. Do you suppose Barnabas had a B.A. from the Jerusalem Christian Bible College? Does that question sound ridiculous to you?

The point is: it’s the responsibility of the church to train and send out preachers to proclaim the gospel and establish new churches. It’s the church’s responsibility to send out evangelists to preach the gospel! Again, how will they preach unless they are sent? Unless the Word is preached, how can the lost attain faith since “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God” (Rom 10:17)?

So then, this comes around to another responsibility of the evangelist which is both inside AND outside the church.

As I mentioned before, there are bible college after bible college. And a lot of these used to be good conservative Christian institutions. But, I’m afraid that we live in a time where our colleges are turning out more Joel Osteens than John the Baptists. After me saying that, you may be sitting there asking yourself if I’m slamming our Christian colleges. Well, if you are, let me make it completely understandable. Even though there are those who fit the description of the ones I mentioned earlier, there are still a few good strong schools out there. But, consider this:

A part of the scriptural responsibility of an evangelist is to perpetuate his office. Putting it in other terms; we, the community of Christians as a whole have taken away the God-given duty of the evangelist to “commit the word to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also.” (2Tim 2:2)

I’m forced to wonder: Is today’s church so lacking that we must send our men to colleges to learn what they should be taught in our churches? Has today’s church become so secular and worldly that we feel that if we’re going to get things right we have to do it the same way the rest of the world does? I have to say that if this is the case, we truly need to repent! It is not the role of an institution to train evangelists. It’s the duty of the church with the evangelist taking the lead role!

I believe that this attitude is also the reason so many of our evangelists today are beginning to wear the name “pastor”. Maybe it’s because they can be made to feel so insignificant to the church, that unless they take on the title of the pastor or elder, they won’t be taken seriously, and therefore will be denied His God-given duties by man-made rules of church government. But, we have to remember that the Scripture tells the evangelist and no one else, “Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you.” (Titus 2:15), as well as, “These things command and teach.” (1Tim 4:11). And then you have this:

Many evangelists today have had to become pastors. Why? Because so many elders have taken away the Lordship of Christ as the Head of the Church and claimed it for themselves, thereby refusing to shepherd the flock and passing that duty on to the evangelist. The saints are not equipped for the work of ministry because we “hired” the evangelist to be “The Pastor”. The evangelist eventually gets burned out from doing all the bailing, trying to keep the ship afloat, and when he can’t keep up with all the leaks the congregation gets dissatisfied with him because he’s perceived as the one who’s caused the problems.

Then, to top it off, it seems that many in our brotherhood have the idea that we’ll be more successful if we do things the way the denominations do them, so if their preacher is The Pastor, then ours should be, too. But by doing things the same way as the denominations, are we any different from the Israelites when they wanted to be like all the other nations and be governed by a king? Did they not receive a warning from God about this? In the letters of the New Testament, do we not also receive warnings about following those who do things which are contrary to God’s will and purpose?

What’s been the outcome? We’ve been negligent in teaching and preaching on the work of the evangelist, and because of this, this work which was set forth by God has been lost and replaced by the way those of the world would run a business with presidents, CEOs, CFOs, and the like. What we, God’s children, absolutely always must remember is that the world’s ways are not God’s ways. God has given us a different plan for His enterprise and we, as His workers in whatever capacity He’s seen fit to give us, must be obedient to His design.

The body of Christ has become lukewarm because we hire the preacher to do our work and be the go-fer of the elders. As a result, the church is not set in order, and the church dwindles and souls are lost.

If we are to expect God’s blessings in this church, we have to return to God’s order and pattern! To do that, the Body of Christ is to allow and support the evangelist in his work. The Body of Christ needs to understand what that work is. The Body of Christ has to contend with those who would attempt to change God’s Divine order for His church. The Body of Christ must pray for the evangelist and his efforts. And the Body of Christ must be prepared to assist in those efforts as good works of service!

God is still calling through the gospel message, “Who will go for Us?” The evangelist is the one who answers, “Here am I Lord, send me.”

The Work of the Evangelist Pt.1

The Work of the Evangelist Pt. 1

Adapted from an article from Michael W. Pemberton

       Is there no one to be evangelized? Has the whole world heard the gospel? Do all believe in Jesus Christ? Can anyone hear without a preacher? Do all understand without guidance? Are there no churches that need set in order? Are there no elders to ordain? Are there no errors or heresies to be exposed? Is there no need for the preaching of the gospel? Is the church to the point where we are longer tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine? Who can do the work of an evangelist but an evangelist?

When we read the words that Paul wrote to Timothy, we can see that Paul’s telling Timothy to do the work of an evangelist because:

1.              Jesus is the judge of the living and the dead.

2.              Jesus is going to appear at His Second Coming Of                His Kingdom

3.              The time was coming when men wouldn’t put up                 with sound doctrine, but would bring unto themselves          teachers not condemning their sins.

Listen to these words from 2 Tim. 4:1-5:

“I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

Isn’t it still true that men aren’t tolerating sound doctrine but listen to false teachers who, by tickling their ears with what they don’t need, but want to hear, are turning them away from the truth? If this is the case, aren’t we still in need of those who are to do the work of an evangelist by preaching the Word in season and out of season; reproving, rebuking, and exhorting with great patience and instruction?

Over the centuries, the work of the evangelist has been lost and needs to be restored. Maybe we’ve put too much focus on the eldership and its qualifications and that’s led to many congregations not knowing that there is work scripturally assigned to the evangelist and most have no idea what that work is.

The first fact that we need to understand is that Christ has given gifts to the church. Ephesians 4:11-12 reads, “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ.”

In Romans 12 we can see gifts which are given by God The Father. They still remain. In 1 Corinthians 12 we see the miraculous gifts given by the Holy Spirit. Those have been done away with. Here, in Ephesians 4, we see the gifts given by the Son of God. Two of these, the apostles and the prophets, are no longer needed since we have, through their inspiration, the complete revelation of God in the greatest writing of all time: the Holy Bible. However, two of those gifts remain: the evangelist and the pastor-teacher. Why? Because these are to teach what’s already been revealed.

Now, there are those today who say that since everyone is to evangelize there’s no such office of “evangelist”. But, while it is true that all Christians are to evangelize, not all do the work of an evangelist. All Christians are to be their brother’s keeper, but not all do the work of elders. All Christians are to be servants, but not all do the work of deacons.

So then, what is an evangelist? Well, according to Vine’s Expository Dictionary, the evangelist is a “preacher of the Gospel, one who heralds the glad tidings and the good news”. He is the proclaimer of the Word; not the word from man, but the Word from God. He is to proclaim to the world that Christ died for our sins, and that through that death, we may have a newness of life which can lead to our salvation. And although he himself cannot save, he is an instrument of God to be used by Him for that purpose.

Then, although they’re mistaken, some preachers today say they are pastors and not evangelists because they do the same work as the elder, which in actuality is only partially true.

In Ephesians 4: 11-12, we see that the evangelist (preacher) and the pastor-teacher (elder) are mutual gifts to the church. Both are for the perfecting of the saints; both are for preparing God’s people for good works of service; and both are for edifying the Body of Christ, which is His Church.

Now, in spite of popular belief, neither the evangelist nor the elders are to do all the work of the church. Each member must do their part for the body to grow. And every Christian has a gift from God to be used for that purpose. 1 Peter 4:10 says, “As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” Who is Peter speaking to here? The evangelist? The elders? Yes! But don’t be mistaken: he’s speaking to each and every one of you, too!

In the way that God has ordained His Church to operate, the evangelist and elders are to equip the saints for good works, not do all the work, themselves. If that happens, it creates a bottleneck and the growth of the church is stunted. It’s only through the whole body (not just the preacher and elders) working together that the church will grow. That is God’s requirement. Any other way is from Satan.

Earlier, I mentioned that it is true that the evangelist and the elders do have some of the same responsibilities, and these shared responsibilities are (and let’s understand this) within the church. They are to guard the flock from false teaching so that none are “tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming.” (Eph. 4:14); to bring the flock to maturity, not by driving, but by leading them by speaking the truth in love, as well as “quipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”

We also need to have the understanding that the evangelist and elders have mutual accountability. It is the evangelist who ordains elders and elders who ordain evangelists. Titus 1:5 states, “For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you.” And then Paul writes in 1 Timothy 5:22, “Do not lay hands upon anyone too hastily and thereby share responsibility for the sins of others; keep yourself free from sin.” Paul is telling Timothy here not to be too fast in ordaining a man as an elder. So, we see here that an elder is to be ordained with the laying on of the hands of the evangelist with fasting and prayer (Acts 13:2-3) This teaches us that an elder cannot be voted in by the congregation, put in office by another elder, or appointed by a church board.

However, it’s a wise thing for the evangelist to seek the counsel of the congregation because there is safety in the multitude of counselors. But, when it comes to where the rubber meets the road, the ultimate decision as to whether a man is to be an elder or not is made by the evangelist.

Unfortunately, in our churches today, many have strayed from the God-Ordained form of church government. Elders are put into office by popularity contests without any regard for qualification. Elders are ordaining elders, and some even go as far as to say that they’re appointed by the Holy Spirit. Are any of these methods given to us by example in the Bible? No! The only one given to us by Scripture is the evangelist performing the ordaining of the elders.

So, I guess the question then becomes: who ordains the evangelist? That responsibility falls to the elders. Again, Paul wrote to Timothy, “Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery.” The word “presbytery” being defined as “the order of elders”.

Taking into account that one office ordains the other, we’re meant also to see that one is accountable to the other. The elders are to correct the evangelist as they oversee the flock, and in most churches that’s all that can happen. In these churches, because the evangelist is typically looked upon as the elders’ flunky, any evangelist who’d try to correct an elder would be fired. But consider this: In 1 Timothy 5:19-21 we can read Paul telling this young evangelist, “Do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses. Those who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all, so that the rest also will be fearful of sinning. I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of His chosen angels, to maintain these principles without bias, doing nothing in a spirit of partiality.” So, what’s a preacher to do? Abide by the rules made by men or abide by the Word of God and suffer the consequences because of the rules of men who are also meant to abide by the Word of God? Isn’t God’s divine order paramount to any device of man?

I’m sure that most of us have heard it said that the New Testament is for our living, and the Old Testament for our learning. If that’s true, then let’s learn something from the Old Testament.

First, did kings rebuke kings? No! Prophets rebuked kings just as Nathan rebuked David. Did kings ordain kings? Again, no! Who did ordain kings? Yes, the prophets. God had a divine order of things in the Old Testament for checks and balances, and He also has a divine order in the New Testament for checks and balances.

Let’s also keep in mind that there are no checks and balances without two equal components, which brings us to the next point.

       There are some today who think that after a church has elders there’s no longer any need for an evangelist. But, if there’s no evangelist, how can the sinning elder be corrected since God has given that responsibility to the evangelist, as we read earlier. On top of that, what do we do with responsibilities of both the elders and the evangelist in Ephesians chapter 4? Just rewrite it to not include the evangelist? Well, before we do that, let me give you some examples from the Bible.

       If we read carefully, we can see that Paul never left a church with just elders. He left Timothy in Ephesus. 1 Timothy 1:3 says, “As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines.” Did the church at Ephesus already have elders? Yes, they did. We can find this in Acts 20:17 where Paul called for the elders of the Ephesian church. At this time, the year was somewhere between 54-58 AD. This letter to Timothy was written between 62-65 AD. So we can clearly see that an eldership was already in existence there, but Paul sent Timothy to charge certain men not to teach a different doctrine.

       Then later, Paul sends for Timothy to come to Rome and sends another evangelist to take his place in Ephesus. While 2 Timothy 4:9 reads, “Make every effort to come to me soon”, verse 12 says, “But Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus.” And then, in Titus 3:12, “When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, make every effort to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there.”

       As we can see, Paul told Titus not to leave until another evangelist arrived. Doesn’t this agree with the pattern given to us in Ephesians chapter 4 that both the evangelist and the elders, the two remaining gifts from Christ to the church, are to prepare God’s people for good works of service?

       Ro 10:14 “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?”