‘So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.’ (Eph 4:11-13)
Evangelists
Evangelists are people who bring good news, who proclaim the gospel. The word itself is only used three times in the New Testament: Philip is called ‘the Evangelist’ in Acts 21:8 and Timothy is exhorted to ‘do the work of an evangelist’ in 2 Tim 4:5. Philip certainly was good at proclaiming the good news: Acts 8:4-40 talks of his powerful ministry of evangelism in Samaria and to the Ethiopian eunuch.
An evangelist is someone who is particularly effective at communicating the gospel message to people and who is used by God to bring many people to salvation. In modern days, we have seen Billy Graham and Luis Palau work as effective evangelists in large crusades, but we need to understand that whilst some are gifted in this area, all of us still have a duty to share the good news with people on a one-to-one basis. We mustn’t ever think that these gifts Jesus gives are always for other people and leave us with nothing to do! These gifts are given to equip us for works of service: to train us as well.
Pastors
The word ‘pastor’ means ‘shepherd’, one who serves as a guardian or leader. It’s a very familiar title in the Old Testament (see Jer 10:21, Ezek 34:2-10; Nahum 3:18, Zech 10:3) Peter writes to leaders to be ‘shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.’ (1 Pet 5:2-3) Those verses give us some insight into the role of a pastor: looking after the sheep willingly, being eager to serve, being examples, not working for financial profit but with a shepherd’s heart. Jesus also famously demonstrated the care of a shepherd when He told the parable of the lost sheep, demonstrating that the shepherd cares about the individual, not just about the flock. Pastoral care nowadays has that connotation of listening to an individual and working through life’s problems with them, listening to the person and listening to God at the same time. Our prayer is that we can be good shepherds here in Goldthorpe, caring for people and bringing God’s word into people’s lives.
Teachers
Teachers are those who are involved in the ministry of the Word. In Acts 13:1, we read, ‘Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul.’ Teachers are mentioned in the ministry gifts listed in 1 Cor 12:28, and clearly teaching can be combined with other roles, for Paul said, ‘of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher.’ (2 Tim 1:11) A teacher will explain and expound the Word of God and will link this to all the things Jesus has taught us: ‘teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.’ (Matt 28:20) Teaching can be both to a congregation, to small groups (such as Sunday school groups and home groups) and to individuals.