"And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ."
Ephesians 4:11–12, ESV
The office of an evangelist is not something everyone is called into, but does that necessarily mean that we cannot bring the good news to others because we are not called into an office? While we may not all have a calling to evangelism, we can still be evangelists in a sense.
I love running. I love it so much that I run on a regular basis, but never have I ever found myself qualified or even built to be a professional runner or olympic sprinter. However, I never let that stop me from jogging two or three times a week. Just because I'm never going to make it to the olympics doesn't mean I should just give up running.
It's the same way with all of us believers when it comes to evangelism. We're not all built to be powerful evangelists who can preach a ten-minute sermon and have hundreds—even thousands—turn to Christ. God may have called you to a different gifting or ministry. Maybe God has given you a call to the prophetic, to worship leading, to the marketplace, to administration or to many other wonderful and equally fulfilling gifts.
But in all that, God can and still will use you as an evangelist. Whether we're aware of it or not, we all champion a message that people hear loud and clear—not necessarily while we preach it, but as we live it.
Matthew 5:16 tells us, "In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven" (ESV). We are all given the call to be a light to the world that shines the love of Christ. Not all of us may be called to go up to a stage to share an evangelistic message and then lead multitudes into prayer or to go out to the streets to meet someone we've never met before and lead him or her to Christ, but we all have a testimony that can bless and lead others to Christ.
Evangelism is not just something that we do. It's also something that we are. Are we being channels of God's love that manifests the gospel that we confess and hold fast to? That is something we are all called to do, and in the process of doing so, we actually share the good news to other people. If that's not evangelism, then I don't know what is.
