Paul writes in his letter to the Ephesians that God calls some people to be evangelists. Along with other ministers, evangelists are “to equip God’s people and to build up the church” (Ephesians 4:11–12). Paul clearly understood the evangelist to be a necessary ministry within the church.

Is that still the case?

Recently, I spoke with one of the few remaining tenured evangelists in the Church of the Nazarene. There are fewer than a dozen active tenured evangelists in the denomination. Even more striking, in the past ten years, only one person has been elevated to the status of tenured evangelist.

One tenured evangelist. In ten years. For an entire denomination.

It seems that itinerant evangelists are becoming a dying breed.

Consider a few basic facts:

1. The church still needs to be equipped and built up.
2. According to Paul, equipping and building up the church is part of the evangelist’s calling.
3. The Church of the Nazarene considers this calling important enough to maintain an extensive process for organizing, recognizing, and categorizing various levels of evangelistic ministry. See the Manual for the details.
4. Yet very few people appear to be responding to that call.

These facts raise some difficult questions. Is God still calling evangelists? Has the evangelist become a relic of the past—a ministry that was once useful but is no longer relevant? Do we still need itinerant evangelists in the 21st century?

For generations, the evangelist’s role was preaching in a week of revival meetings—sometimes two weeks. It was an annual staple of most Nazarene churches—sometimes twice a year. But that practice has become increasingly uncommon.

At the same time, as many churches are experiencing declining attendance, diminished finances, and increasing challenges in reaching their communities, one could argue that the church needs to be equipped and built up more than ever. In other words, perhaps the problem isn’t that we need fewer evangelists. Maybe we need more—just a different kind.

The 21st-century evangelist’s job description may look less like the one we inherited from recent generations and more like the ministry of Philip, “the evangelist,” in the Book of Acts. Philip was one of the seven chosen to help distribute food in Acts 6. In Acts 8, he preached to crowds, but he also shared the gospel one-on-one with the Ethiopian eunuch. Then, in Acts 21, we find Philip in Caesarea, where Paul and Luke were recipients of his hospitality. Philip preached—but he did much more.

Perhaps we should envision an evangelist who is not simply a pulpiteer, but also an equipper, encourager, consultant, trainer, and partner in ministry. Someone who can help a church evaluate its effectiveness, identify opportunities, and develop practical steps for reaching its community.

Imagine an evangelist who comes alongside the local pastor—not to replace the pastor’s leadership, but to strengthen it. An evangelist who trains, equips, and empowers pastors and congregations to reach their communities with the gospel and to pursue holiness. Maybe the 21st-century itinerant evangelist will spend less time behind the pulpit and more time in classrooms, coffee shops, living rooms, and one-on-one conversations.

Is this where the future of the evangelist lies—not in abandoning the historic calling, but in rediscovering it? An additional voice alongside the local pastor can still be powerful. The church still needs to be equipped and built up. People still need to hear the gospel. Believers still need to be challenged toward holiness. Churches still need encouragement, renewal, and empowerment. The evangelist’s job is not done. 

What may need to change is not whether we have evangelists, but how we use them. We need a new breed of evangelist—men and women who are called, trained, and released to build and equip the church in ways that make sense for the world in which we now minister.

The fields are still white unto harvest.
The church still needs evangelists to equip and build it up to reach our world.
It just might look different than it did in the past.

Could God be calling you to a new and essential ministry of evangelism?

Shameless Plug Alert: Nazarene Bible College can help evangelists-in-training develop the theological, practical, and ministry tools they need to fulfill that calling in the 21st century.