14. Evangelism

Evangelism in Scripture is the announcing of good news about Jesus Christ — His life, death, resurrection, ascension, and return — calling hearers to repentance, faith, and discipleship. It is rooted in the conviction that this news is true, urgent, and transformative; that all people apart from Christ are lost; and that God works through the proclamation of the gospel to bring people from death to life.

The biblical picture distinguishes between several related concepts:

• The universal calling. Every Christian is called to be a witness (Acts 1:8), to be ready to give a reason for the hope (1 Pet 3:15), to live and speak in ways that point to Christ (Matt 5:16; Col 4:5–6). The whole church is to be evangelistic.

• The specific gift. Some are particularly gifted by the Spirit as evangelists (Eph 4:11) — those whose calling, capacity, and fruit are concentrated in this work. Their gift equips the rest of the church for evangelism (Eph 4:12).

The biblical picture also clarifies what evangelism is not. It is not coercion, manipulation, or guilt-tripping. It is not slick salesmanship. It is not selling out the gospel for cultural acceptability. It is not, on the other hand, harangue or condemnation. It is the heralding (kēryssō) of good news — joyful, truthful, and urgent — by witnesses (martyres) who have themselves received it.

Paul gives the heart of the message: "I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures..." (1 Cor 15:3–4). The gospel content is non-negotiable.

And Paul gives the posture of the messenger: "We are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us" (2 Cor 5:20). The evangelist speaks with the authority of the King while being acutely aware that they are merely His envoy.

Jesus. The supreme Evangelist. He proclaims, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel" (Mark 1:15). His ministry is saturated with evangelistic encounters — the rich young ruler, Zacchaeus, the Samaritan woman, Nicodemus, the woman caught in adultery, the dying thief, the crowds. His parables are evangelistic — the lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost son. He weeps over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41–44) and announces, "The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost" (Luke 19:10).

Philip the Evangelist (Acts 8). One of the seven "deacons" whose ministry expanded into bold gospel work. He proclaims Christ in Samaria (Acts 8:5) and witnesses extraordinary fruit. The Spirit then sends him to a single Ethiopian official on a desert road. He runs alongside the chariot, asks the perfect opening question — "Do you understand what you are reading?" — explains Isaiah 53 in light of Christ, baptises the man immediately, and is whisked away. A picture of the evangelist available for both crowds and individuals, willing to go where the Spirit sends.

Peter (Acts 2; 3; 10). His Pentecost sermon is the first recorded evangelistic address of the Christian era — about three thousand are added that day. His sermon at Solomon's Portico after healing the lame man. His preaching to Cornelius's household — the moment the gospel breaks into the Gentile world.

Paul (Acts 13–28). His missionary ministry is an extended exercise in evangelism — to Jews in synagogues, to Gentiles in market squares and lecture halls, to philosophers in Athens, to a Roman governor, to an enraged mob in Jerusalem, to a Roman king, to fellow prisoners on a sinking ship, and finally to all who came to him in his rented house in Rome (Acts 28:30–31). His method is contextual — he begins with Scripture among Jews and with creation among Gentiles. His message is constant — Jesus and the resurrection.

Stephen (Acts 7). His sermon — sustained scriptural retelling pointed toward Christ — costs him his life and plants the seed that becomes Saul of Tarsus's eventual conversion.

Apollos (Acts 18:24–28). "Powerful in the Scriptures... fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus." Confounds the Jews "in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus."

The Samaritan woman (John 4:28–30, 39–42). After meeting Jesus, runs back to her town: "Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?" Many believe "because of the woman's testimony." One of the loveliest pictures of immediate evangelism by a new disciple.

Andrew (John 1:40–42). Hears John the Baptist point to Jesus, follows Jesus, and "first found his own brother Simon and said to him, 'We have found the Messiah.'" The first evangelist of the Christian era — and his "convert" became Peter.

The Gerasene demoniac (Mark 5:18–20). Asks to follow Jesus; Jesus instead tells him: "Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you." "He went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marvelled." A whole region begins to hear the gospel through one healed man.

The Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26–40). After his conversion, returns to Ethiopia carrying the gospel. Tradition, plausibly, traces the Ethiopian church back to him.

Lydia (Acts 16:14–15). After her conversion, her household is baptised and becomes the first base of the Philippian church.

The early church generally. "Those who were scattered went about preaching the word" (Acts 8:4). After the persecution, ordinary believers — not just apostles or evangelists — went everywhere proclaiming Christ. A reminder that the gift of evangelism is given to some, but the call to witness is given to all.

Old Testament foreshadowings. Jonah preaching to Nineveh (with reluctance). The exiles in Babylon — Daniel testifying before kings, the four young men's witness. The promise that "the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea" (Hab 2:14).

Throughout church history. From Patrick to Wesley, from Whitefield to Spurgeon, from Sundar Singh to Billy Graham, from John Sung to Festo Kivengere — the gift of evangelism has been recognisably given across cultures and centuries. The gospel travels in the saddlebags of countless faithful evangelists, named and unnamed.

A counter-example: the false teachers who "travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves" (Matt 23:15). The energy of evangelism without the truth of the gospel produces destruction, not life.

A pattern across these examples: biblical evangelists are characterised by deep love for Christ, real love for the lost, careful handling of the message, willingness to bear cost, contextual sensitivity, and sustained prayerful dependence. They are willing to speak to one person on a desert road or to a crowd in a city square. They die — sometimes literally — for the chance to see another come to faith. And they know, at every moment, that they are not the converters; they are the heralds. The gospel is the power of God.