72 Leadership Fruitful Pulpit

Church Evangelism Training Resource:
Evangelism Leadership and

the Fruitful Pulpit
4. Evangelism Leadership and the Fruitful Pulpit
Church Leadership Evangelism Resource
John Teter - Evangelism Team Leader of the Evangelical Covenant Church
Acts, Church History and Evangelistic Preaching

It is an amazing fact that the living God shares his ministry with redeemed sinners. Jesus
is the Word of God, present and active in creation itself, and yet he empowers his
followers to do what he did. In fact, he sent the 72 as representatives of His father in
heaven, to speak the gospel on his behalf, where he himself was about to go. (Luke
10:1)
Throughout the course of church history, the evangelist has continued the tradition of
publicly proclaiming the Word of God. The church in Jerusalem was birthed through
Peters first and famous evangelistic sermon. With great boldness, amazing confidence,
and fiery passion, he exhorted thousands who responded with biblical faith. The
decisions of faith lead to an incredible discipleship as described by Luke in the first
chapters of Acts. In Galatians, Paul writes that he was set apart from birth so that he
might preach the gospel among the Gentiles. (Galatians 1.15-16) Peter, Paul, Barnabas,
Stephen, Philip, Priscilla, and Apollos are but the forerunners of New Testament
preaching that would continue throughout church history. Haddon Robinson teaches,
To the New Testament writers, preaching stands as the event through which God
works. 1
Today, through the Holy Spirit, God continues to share his ministry and work through
the public evangelistic preaching.
The Evangelism Gift

The evangelism gift holds a very unique place among the spiritual gifts. In many ways, it
is the most unstable of all the gifts. When it is on it is the pastor's best friend. Who
doesn't want to see more non-Christians coming around our churches? But when it is
off it can be a thorn in the side of the pastor. How many frustrated evangelists are
challenged to lead in our local churches? The gift is calling out for attention, investment,
and the opportunity to win lost people to Jesus.
Pastors who guide the mission must remember that the evangelism gift can be a bit
moody (pun intended). If the gift is not utilized, it can be dormant, scowl a bit, and
make life challenging for all on the team. But when it is used and allowed to operate,
the team is much stronger for it.
1
Haddon Robinson, Biblical Preaching (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1980), p. 17
Evangelism Leadership and the Fruitful Pulpit

1
We must make an extra effort to develop the evangelism gift in local churches. J. Robert
Clinton at Fuller Theological Seminary teaches the evangelism gift is the first spiritual
gift to lose its power. 2 It is often the first gift to atrophy. As we guide the mission, may
our mantra concerning the evangelism gift be, Use it or lose it! Below are some
thoughts on how to make the evangelism gift work for you, your leadership, and the
growth of your church.
Closers and Harvest Events

In the world of sports, there is a term that applies to players who are able to help their
teams win close games. These are the players who hit the game-winning jump shot,
make the crucial pass, or strike out the opposing batter with runners on base. These
players who excel at the end of games under incredible pressure are known as closers.
The closers seem to have a different personality than the rest of the players on their
team. Closers want the ball when the game is on the line. They absolutely relish the big
moment where the difference is victory or defeat. The same is not true for everyone on
the team.
In many ways, the evangelists in your church are like closers from the sports world. They
have a different spiritual outlook. They have a DNA that is often different from a person
gifted to be a pastor or Bible teacher. These people are drawn to, and even yearn, for
the moment of helping people move closer to committing their lives to Jesus. These
people have been wired and spiritually gifted by God, to explain the gospel and help
non-Christians commit to Jesus. They are amazingly valuable assets to your church
ministry team. Sadly, many evangelists are neither identified nor developed in the local
church. Many are faithful, serving, loving leaders in our churches, but they are not doing
what they are gifted by God to do.
As a pastor who guides the mission, I would commend that your church create events
and services where every Christian who has been telling the story of God can bring their
non-Christian friends. At these events, your closers can tell the story of Jesus, share
their own stories of conversion, and skillfully call for commitment. By hosting
evangelistic events, you not only help develop your evangelists, you will likely reach
more non-Christians and create a positive culture of regular evangelism in your local
church. (Please see the article Evangelism and the Church Calendar for further
thoughts and details).
Developing Public Evangelists

As pastors who guide the mission, here are practical leadership steps that you can take
to help identify and develop those with the public gift of evangelism.
2
J. Robert Clinton, Unlocking Your Giftedness (Altadena: Barnabas Publishers, 1993), p. 269

2
Calling All Evangelists
I find it interesting that most local churches invest significant time and resources in
training pastors and helping to develop their preaching associates. Young preachers are
carefully selected, given quality resources to write sermons, and provided with ongoing
support and mentoring. Leaders are readily available when crisis hits. We do leadership
development very well for leaders who lead their fellow Christians.
But how do we carefully select, resource, and provide ongoing support for the
evangelist? One could even argue that the evangelist has a much harder ministry task
than the preacher. The evangelist is preaching to someone who is not familiar with
church, likely has many questions, and is under the power of Satan.
We would do well to intentionally seek out and identify who have the evangelism gift in
our churches. It would go a long way to gather those people, empower them with a
vision for using their gifts, and to help them mature as evangelists. Sadly, evangelists in
many churches are never called, gathered, nor invested in.
Biblical Evangelism Models

The growing evangelist needs models and a game plan for growth. The evangelist must
be an overall student of the Bible. But they should especially study the passages related
to Dr. and the process of salvation. They should have deep in their ministry quiver the
arrows of how Jesus called for commitment. They should be ready to quickly recall
phrases and sermon content of the first evangelists in Acts. And they should be able to
process this eternal truth and contextualize it into your local setting.
Historical Mentors
The history of evangelistic preaching is rich and abounding. We must help our young
evangelists commit their current ministry to the great tradition of the church. Our
developing evangelists must become familiar with the greatest preachers and winners
of souls. Sitting under the evangelism ministries of Charles Spurgeon, Billy Graham,
David Brainerd, Watchman Nee, and the countless heralds of God, will expand their gift
passion and help them see what is possible.
Calling for Commitment

The young evangelistic preacher must take special interest in learning how to call for
commitment. It is a common mistake for young evangelists to speak the majority of
their time in the pulpit and rush the commitment. A wise evangelist will give ample time
at the conclusion of their sermon and communicate in such a way that helps people
process the myriad of emotions that come with commitment. The preacher must be
aware of the work of the Holy Spirit and learn to partner with God in calling home lost
sheep.
How this looks in your context is one of the great riddles of evangelistic preaching that is
waiting to be solved. But once it is figured out, and done well, the preacher not only

3
calls home sinners, but he is now modeling for all the congregation how to help people
commit to Jesus. May you help the young evangelists not only experience evangelistic
preaching, but more importantly, to learn from their own experiences.
I bless you with the same blessing that Paul gave to Priscilla and Aquila. They came
across an amazing orator and evangelist named Apollos. But he needed seasoned
leadership, mentoring, and theological training. Luke tells us that Priscilla and Aquila
took him and explained to him the way of God more accurately. (Acts 18.27)
May God use you to encourage and raise up an Apollos in your own congregation.

4

72 Leadership Fruitful Pulpit

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

72 Leadership Fruitful Pulpit

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

72 Leadership Fruitful Pulpit

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Church Evangelism Training Resource:

Evangelism Leadership and

Acts, Church History and Evangelistic Preaching

The Evangelism Gift

Evangelism Leadership and the Fruitful Pulpit

Closers and Harvest Events

Developing Public Evangelists

Evangelism Leadership and the Fruitful Pulpit

Biblical Evangelism Models

Calling for Commitment

Evangelism Leadership and the Fruitful Pulpit

Evangelism Leadership and the Fruitful Pulpit

You might also like