We are all called to carry out the great commission, but who really holds the office of an evangelist?
Many Christians would describe an evangelist as someone that travels from church to church to preach messages. Their messages inspire believers to give to ministries that focus on taking the gospel to the unreached. Perhaps they would mention someone that preaches a message to bring revival to the church and convince people we bring to their meetings to become a follower of Christ. The right answer, however, according to Ephesians chapter 4, is that the evangelist is a person who equips believers to “do the work of the ministry so that they may build up the church.” That means the person who gives us the intellectual ability to answer the questions and objections of family and friends is really acting in the office of the evangelist. By training believers to give a reasonable answer, these people are probably doing more to win people to Christ than many traveling preachers. Apologetics is the branch of Christian theology that seeks to address the intellectual obstacles that keep people from taking faith seriously, and therefore it is the apologist who is the true evangelist.
“The Ratio Christi group here at Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, North Carolina is doing very well. We will continue to meet during the summer as there is still interest from members of the community and also students who will be staying in the area. Amazingly, even after exams were over and the students had gone home, one young man drove an hour from his home to attend our 7:00 am Ratio Christi meeting, and another young lady drove 3 hours! It is so encouraging to see such serious commitment and spiritual hunger in these students.” Julia Byrd, (graduating senior, and one of the clubs founders).
Rick Schenker, President of Ratio Christi said, “I am very proud of these students at Lenor-Rhyne. Not only are they excited to learn how to fulfill our mission to Defend Truth & Christianity at the University, they have taken our “no competition zone” policy so seriously that they meet at 7:00 a.m. so they don’t interfere with the meetings of other campus ministries.”
