3 reasons for the pastor to do the work of an evangelist every Sunday

Paul charges Timothy:

"do the work of evangelist" (2 Tim. 4:5)

Is hat something different from "Preach the Word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke..." (v2)? Is doing the work of an evangelist (i.e. gospel preacher) something quite separate to Timothy's regular pastoral ministry? Is it something on the side - just for Tuesday afternoons in the market place with unbelievers? Well I'm sure Timothy did do some of that targeted, door to door and marketplace evangelism for unbelievers but I think Paul was calling him to be evangelist in all his preaching, in church as well as outside it, Sunday by Sunday. Why?

Timothy is to "preach the Word" (v2) and "the Word" is often used in the NT to mean the gospel message. In this particular context (cf. 2 Tim. 3:14-17) it could equally mean 'all the Scriptures' but then those Scriptures are all about "making you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus" so either way the Word is the Word about Christ. Preaching the Word = Preaching the Gospel.
There are a whole load of people in church every Sunday who do not have genuine faith in Christ and need to hear the gospel.
The gospel is for Christian growth - it is how people are transformed and grow to maturity in Christ (2 Cor. 3:18; Col. 1:28; Titus 2:11-14; 2 Pet. 3:18).

To those who are pastors among us, let's fulfil our ministry, not only of pastor-teacher but of pastor-teacher-evangelist.

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10 things servant leadership is

I used to think that all that was necessary in gospel ministry was faithful Bible handling. Preach the Word carefully and surely everything else should follow? But I was wrong. Sadly it is possible to have high quality expository preaching and ungodly leadership. It shouldn’t be possible but it is. And it’s a very ugly thing. Peter Mead has written recently on the danger that can be done to a church or ministry when appointment of leaders values ability over character. So here are ten aspects of biblical servant leadership, specifically in relation to gospel ministry leadership, from 1 Thessalonians, especially chapters 2 and 3: Servant leadership is, wherever possible, Plural. A lot of articles and books on leadership assume that it is a personal project. Search Google Images for ‘leadership’ and you will see lots of clipart of a single figure with a crowd following behind. But the New Testament picture of leadership is far more often of team ministry (Acts 14:23; Romans 16). 1 Thess…

How do we raise up the cross-cultural gospel workers we need?

In an increasingly mobile, ethnically diverse, socially divided UK (and world) we need gospel workers who are sensitive (people-orientated, humble and compassionate), skilled (equipped and practiced in culturally-aware gospel ministry) and serious (both in zeal and knowledge). The question is, where do you find people like that? Are they born (born again) like that? Is there a training course or seminary programme that can produce that kind of person?

Of course first and foremost we must pray for these workers (Matt. 9:38). Only God can give the life and heart and boldness and joy and gentleness necessary. But how, humanly speaking, do these workers arrive? Is there anything we can do to be part of that raising up?

I'd suggest that a big part of the answer is: cross-cultural gospel ministry apprenticeships.

Just to define that:

Gospel = the news of the Son of God dying instead of wrath-deserving sinners and rising that we can be united to him by his Spirit as forgiven adopted chil…

Dig Deeper

What does it mean to preach the Word faithfully? One way to express it simply is this: 1. Get it right 2. Get it across First we need to listen very carefully to the Bible text and chew on it and feel the force of it and see Christ in it and work out what is the main point of the passage. Then we need to think very carefully about how to communicate that to our hearers in a way that will keep it clear and cutting. Both theses stages are hard work. Dig Deeper is a great resource to help us with the first stage - getting the right message from the text. Here is a review by one of the iServe Africa ministry apprentices Sheena Murabula.

In the Kenyan church context, at least as much as in other places, a very concerning phrase pops in bible study groups; "Well that’s your interpretation, but this is what I think." With this trend of individual opinions reigning, the Bible can say almost anything. Also, the Bible warns us against false teachers as in 2 Peter 2, 1 John 4 and several …

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