DO WE AS CHRISTIANS, ALL HAVE TO EVANGELISE?

What do you all think?

Hello @DOUGLASPAUL, yes, I'm convinced that we are ~all~ called to be His witnesses, even when we are still very young in the faith, and even though I don't believe that all of us have been specially gifted by the Holy Spirit to be evangelists .. e.g. Ephesians 4:11 (the work of an evangelist is generally different than that of a witness).

The following are a number of verses/passages that instruct us to do so, though there are others, of course. On the flipside, I can't think of any verses/passages that tell us not to do so (except in certain, temporary circumstances .. e.g. Matthew 7:6).
God bless you!!

~Deuteronomy (David)

You ask a lot of "do we have to" questions. If your heart has been changed by the Lord, you'll want to evangelize and do all that pleases Him. If the question is: Does it please Him when we evangelize, then the answer is yes. But we should do it with the gifts He's given us, not by our own strength.

Thanks so much for this, my dear brother.

Good comment, brother. Thank you.

Not everyone has the call to be an evangelist.

, , wouldn't both fall under the category of, Preacher? If that office of preacher was held sound to His will, that temporary circumstance would find itself with an occasional turn of permanent direction: ''I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation''. Yet later (2Tim 4:5), he called on someone who was NOT known as an evangelist, to jump right in to assume those very duties.

Aren't we all 'living testimonies'?

I think everyone is entitled to my opinion. I'm not sure if that's evangelism or not...

You certainly do not have to have a title of 'evangelist' in order to witness for Christ. You can witness anywhere and that means that people who would not otherwise be exposed to the gospel, can hear the gospel from you. We should all be ready at any given time to
share our faith and lead others to salvation.

Deuteronomy explained it very well in his post above.

Yes, in one form or another.

So , what do u guys think about women evangelizing ? Do u mind ? What do u think about women coming on here and sharing their thoughts on scripture ? When I did go to church , I did not want to do any kind of preaching and women weren't permitted to do so and I was fine with that . Even at our weekly Bible class , women were not permitted to speak at all and I was fine with that also . However in recent years , especially during the pandemic and lock down , I was desperate to talk about the Bible , I stopped going to church in 2001 when I met my future husband . He was not part of my then congregation and we/they don't marry out of the congregation so I had to leave in order to marry my husband . I have a burning desire to listen to others talk about the Bible and to join in the conversation . How do u guys feel about that given that I'm a woman ? I don't mind u being honest 😁 so don't dress it up 😜 give it to me straight .

Hi PAC-Fit, the Bible differentiates between the different offices .. e.g. Ephesians 4:11-12;1 Corinthians 12:28-30, and I think it does so for good reason. For instance, the things that an evangelist, a pastor, a missionary, an apologist and a witness are principally focused on can be similar, but quite different, as well.

For example, an evangelist and a pastor both preach, but they do so (typically) for different reasons, the former being concerned with the Gospel and helping unbelievers to come to saving faith, while the latter is principally focused on the many, ongoing needs of a specific group of believers instead, the saints who make up the congregation that they are the undershepherd of .. cf Hebrews 13:17. So, while an evangelist is focused almost exclusively on helping people become Christians, a pastor (who is a man of many "hats", to be sure) is concerned with helping those who already are believers to live the Christian life and grow to maturity in the faith.

Witnesses (which I believe that we are all called to be) are perhaps best thought of like witnesses in a courtroom are. So, as witnesses, we are called to tell others all about the things that we've "witnessed" and experienced, personally, since becoming a believer, what we've seen, heard and felt, what we know about God, His word and the faith, what knowing Him and the new life that He has given us means to us, especially when compared to what our lives were formerly, as unbelievers.

Missionaries and Apologists have their own focus too (and we can discuss them if you'd like to), but this post is already too long, IMHO, so I think that I'll stop here.

God bless you!!

~Deuteronomy (David)
p.s. - discussing the differences and similarities between the various offices in the church could make for an interesting thread

yes, the old expression is " walking out your faith"..

Sister, there are a lot of women these days who spread the Gospel! So I reckon, go for it!!

Girl, I hope you're not offended by me saying this..... your old church sounds a Lil whack. 😬😳 It's one thing to require marriage within the body of Christ (definitely biblical!), but to require it within the CONGREGATION sounds like the mark of a cult. Glad you escaped...er, "left" 😜

Regarding discussing the Bible, maybe you could find a women's Bible study to attend? There's nothing un-Biblical about ladies fellowshipping and discussing the Bible, the restriction is against teaching or having authority over men (and some say that only pertains to groups containing married men and women, which I think is plausible considering the context of the passage, the original Greek, and the way marriage changes the dynamic between a man and a woman). There must be SOME leeway allowed, since Paul sharpened iron with Acquilla AND Priscilla..... yup, Paul himself discussed the scriptures with a woman!

Regardless, you are certainly permitted to evangelize, bear witness, disciple other ladies, and teach the Bible to children. Just find out what your gifts are and how God wants you to use them! 😎

Hello Sister, it's all good, so as @DOUGLASPAUL just said, "go for it"

Suze said:

When I did go to church , I did not want to do any kind of preaching and women weren't permitted to do so and I was fine with that . Even at our weekly Bible class , women were not permitted to speak at all and I was fine with that also . However in recent years , especially during the pandemic and lock down , I was desperate to talk about the Bible , I stopped going to church in 2001 when I met my future husband . He was not part of my then congregation and we/they don't marry out of the congregation so I had to leave in order to marry my husband .

Click to expand...

I'm guessing that your former church (and denomination?) was fundamentalist

I like how my present denomination (Evangelical Free Church of America) and local church handles all of this. For instance, our pastorate and elder board are all men, but we've always had female deacons on the deacon board. Women also teach Children's Sunday School and lead various female Bible studies, retreats, and the like, and they certainly share their faith with others.

Women also participate (make points/ask questions, etc.) in all of our Bible studies, whether they are the small group home type of studies, or the church-wide studies that we have on Sundays and during the week. Woman also pray in our weekly prayer meetings.

Also, we typically have women in the pulpit at least a couple of times a year, leading/teaching adult Sunday School and/or our worship services while talking about what they do overseas as missionaries, for instance (with their husbands, if they are married), or as leaders of a local ministry of some sort (like a Crisis Pregnancy Center).

Just FYI, they always do so knowing that they are under the authority of our pastors and elders (who are always right there in SS and/or in our worship services, ready to step in, if need be). Thankfully, no one has chosen to go "off the reservation" yet, not in the last 30+ years

So again, for me anyway, please join in and make points, ask questions, be blessed and be a blessing to others, as often as you want to (and as the Lord leads you to, of course).

God bless you!!

~Deuteronomy (David)

Off topic: Has anyone else been experiencing a bad connection (of some sort) here over the last day or two or three

My last reply above was ready to post about 2 hours ago, but when I tried to do so it wouldn't work. I came back about an hour later and tried again, but to no avail. So, I waited for a while again and this time it worked (like it always has in the past).

This is the 3rd or 4th time this has happened recently.

Thanks for your help!

--David
edit: this one posted immediately, like it almost always has in the past. Oh well, maybe it's been fixed (whatever the problem was)