In our "Outside-the-Box" view of Christianity, much has been written here in regard to the unscriptural authority vested in the "pastor headship", also know as the "Senior Pastor" church model.
In this we will discuss "the evangelist" of scripture.
First let me say in the spiraling apostasy of the modern church, the goal of evangelising is mostly accomplished by inviting people to "church". We did this pseudo "evangelism" through various "outreach" programs and gimmicks.
You know, the Children's Christmas and Easter Program, a baptisimal service, a special speaker, a Prophecy Series, Financial Class, and of course advertising in the local media. The idea was if we could get them to come sit in one of our "services" God might somehow get hold of them and they would want to get saved.
Our job was to get them to church so the pastor could get them saved, after all, that what he gets paid for, right?.
To help them cooperate, a number of manipulative techniques might be used, appeal to emotions, promises of "blessings and rewards", and usually one or more unscriptural terms offered such as "ask Jesus into your heart" or "accept Christ", which are substituted for "repent and believe the gospel". The term "Seeker-Sensitive" became a common method for presenting a watered down gospel message in which judgement, sin, and hell are not mentioned and a schmoozy version of "accept Christ" is substituted.
(BTW, The command to Repent is not optional..)
This is all done from the safety zone of an elevated "platform", (in reality a stage), from behind a pulpit, surrounded by like-minded church-goers, and God in His mercy, does save some through these devices. At least for now..
In addition, this is also a really a great way to slip people into a church and build numbers for a ministry as many of the Big Name Churches give witness. There is nothing like a good, easy to believe, comfortable, feel-good approach to making "disciples", right? (see "Institutional Salvation")
It is also a great way to evenagelize great numbers found in the wallets and checkbooks as many TV evangelists and Mega-Church pastors give witness.
The bottom line here is most "evangelism" consists of many methods which attempt to herd people into the barns, corrals, and cages of Christianity so the pastor can get them saved. (Do a google search "church growth program". I did and got 13,500,000 documents!)
Compare the typical comfy church on the corner with this verse:
Acts 4:33 And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.
Does this sound like Christians today? May God restore ALL of us to the model He gave us in Acts!
The evangelist is not the pastor although we should all be part evangelist and ready to do as said in 1 Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
Why is the evangelist ministry gift so important, not only to those unsaved, but to the CHURCH ITSELF?
-because if the true evangelist is missing, then the saints are NOT EQUIPPED to do the work of an evangelist in ministering to the lost!
Would anyone argue that there is but a miniscule effort to evangelize the lost outside of church membership?
Do you honestly believe advertising, promotions, and programs are really what the Bible evangelists did?
Can it be said we have also LOST the pattern of evangelism from that of scripture?
Consider: John the Baptist out in the wilderness.
Matthew 10: the disciples were empowered and sent out from house to house, town to town.
Jesus was always evangelizing Gods' LOST SHEEP everywhere
:in the churches (synagogues)
:in the temple
-in the face of the phony apostate clergy of His day.
: to Gods people who went to the temple with a desire to please God
: here and there, -the woman at the well
: in homes
: outdoors -by the lake
and in Acts, the disciples evangelized:
: in the temple
: out doors
: in the streets
: in homes
: women doing the outdoor laundry
: in the public square
: in court before rulers
One conclusion becomes obvious, the gospel of the kingdom (the REAL Gospel of the REAL Kingdom) was not shut up into barns, corrals, and cages.., and evangelization was a full-time, on-going lifestyle where the seed of Gods Word was sown everywhere the disciples went.
The real Word of the real gospel was also CONFIRMED by signs and wonders just as the Lord said it would. Mark 16:20 And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word by the signs that followed. (Need we add the modern church, for the most part does not have its' message confirmed as the disciples did.)
As we left the Institutional church, we realized there were thousands of ex-church goers in our city and they needed to be evangelized. NOT by the failed church "system", but by those that found God's life outside of the walls. The longer we stayed outside the camp, the more we realized that the majority of churches had become "the lost sheep of modern Israel", and both groups are in desparate need of evangelism. That is the primary function and call of this website.
Tom Briggs, http://www.openairseattle.blogspot.com/a , street evangelist in Seattle writes: The modern adulterous form of evangelism/ist generally says and does the opposite of what Jesus commands and taught His evangelists do.
For examples...rather than "Go ye...into the world..." and cast the net for souls, they DON'T "go ye", but rather stay in the boat, warm and dry, and just solicit the fish to jump INTO their boats! Instead of reconciling sinful man unto the holy God, they reconcile the holy God to basically sinless men!
Instead of knowing the terror of the Lord and persuading men to flee from His wrath to come, they speak of only God's love and ignore His warnings to warn sinners of His wrath coming upon sinners, and do not warn the sinners to flee the hands of an angry God! Instead of commanding repentance from sin and self, they suggest that their self help programs and worship-tainment band is better than the ones down the road!
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The evangelist exhorts saints to 1) holiness, (cause without it the saints cannot evangelize with hypocrisy, condemnation, and powerlessness stunting their zeal and boldness to witness to the lost, or heal their diseases), and 2)to disciplined study of God's Word(for it is the sword that destroys the lies of Satan and excuses of sinners .
It is the plow to exspose sinner's sinfulness so that they may be convinced of their danger in sinful living, and repent, and be saved...it is the needle that pierces first the hard necked selfrighteous sinner's pride and conscience to permit the blood red thread of God's grace and pardon to follow into the heart).
He leads the effort in plowing, planting, and watering precious seeds (God's Word) in the world.
The evangelist promotes intercessory prayer and waiting before our Head Evangelist in order to be broken, humble, compassionate and zealous as He was and is for lost souls.
The evangelist leads the troops into battle...leads by example, not just chalk talks.
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The Biblical evangelist and the office of "evangelist" is for the sole purpose of,not just evangelizing the lost, BUT TEACHING, TRAINING, and LEADING the saints in the church to do the work of the ministry (Eph 4:11-13), to preach the gospel to the lost, and to demonstate and confirm what they preached with signs and wonder (Mk 16:15-20).
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God has raised up (outside of the "system" in most cases), mostly from Ray Comfort's faithfulness to his calling and gift of..."the evangelist". (Some may object to Ray's Calvinism , etc, but the lawful use of the Law and the Ten Commandments before Grace preaching is the gutsof Biblical evangelism, and God has restored these lost and bent "keys of His Kingdom" to His true Church and Endtime Army.
Many evangeliscals have gotten "born from Above" as a result of learning and doing WOTM!
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Another Evangelist wrote:
May I add that my example, for 17 years I did evangelism poorly and no body called me an evangelist. Even though, I was a member of two evangelistic organization and teams. When I learned the WOTM (Way of the Master), I started doing evangelism very well. I had more success with WOTM in three months than in the previous 17 years all total. That changed everything! People started calling me an "evangelist."
Likewise Philip the “Deacon” in Jerusalem (Acts 6) goes up to Samaria (and the desert road) and preaches the gospel (he functions as an evangelist) in Acts 9. Later in Acts 21:8, he is called an evangelist. However, the only church office we have any record of him receiving or holding is as a Deacon in the church in Jerusalem.
-When I first started out teaching as a newer Christian, people said, "Oh, he has the gift of teaching" and now when we train hundreds of new evangelist every year they keep on saying, “he is a teacher.”
-Later when I started preaching and a church appointed me as their pastor/minister, people said, "He has the gift of a pastor."
-Later, still, as I mentioned above, when I learned to do evangelism correctly with the WOTM they said "He is an evangelist."
-When we became church planters here in Asia and people observed the dozens of churches we planted and the miracles that followed, they said, "He is an apostle (and gifted missionary)."
-Now when I preach repentance, turning from sin, and speak against the Lukewarm complacent church worldwide, and the superstar tele-evangelist, and have an occasional word of knowledge, or heal people, they say "He is a prophet."
Pastoring, home visitation, hospital visitations, and counseling were things I dreaded but as I made myself function as a pastor I have found great joy in the very things I despised. God equips those who are obedient!I love hospital visitations now because God uses them so very powerfully to change lives.
Many people come to Christ and come to church because of hospital visitations.It is a beautiful thing to weep with the heartbroken or share the loss of a loved one with a family you know and love. If we are willing to do what God commands us to do, the equipping by God will follow.
An example: In the last three days by God’s grace we have healed 9 people, and cast out demons.Some happened in a house church we planted, others happened in our own home, and others happened while we were teaching and training new evangelist at a nearby BibleCollege.Even miracles can become “normal Christianity.”
PS.You can see I don’t have the gift of a “writer” yet,…ha-ha-ha! So I will just keep functioning until it comes,…
Well said, brothers..
Our prayer is God will raise up evangelists and street preachers all over this land, in our towns and cities, in the parks and streets, in churches and synagogues, wherever we encounter people.. And may we go in the same power as our spiritual forefathers did here:
Acts 4:33 And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.
Will you join us in that prayer?
Excellent. As The Lord said "seek David in the Wilderness".
Posted by Neil S Daws on 03/13/2009 04:30:54
Amen! May we all bow down and humbly submit to the most high God, not in words but in deed. It is important that we recognize that we are a vessel; molded and fashioned so that Christ may live out his ministry through us, thus administering grace to all mankind. We are not called to become a part of the world but rather to live our lives in holiness and reverent fear of the Lord. May we truly come to know Chist and him crucified, that HE may have preeminance in all things.
