When it comes to gifts that men give to each other, sometimes the receiver is much better off without the gift. As England’s empire reached further and further from its island base, the British found more and more foreign idioms making their way into their already complex language. One such colorful idiom came from Siam (modern Thailand) and had to do with the giving of human gifts. The white Asian elephant, unusual for its color, was revered as a deity and thus could never do any work because of its status. Unfortunately for its owner, the white behemoth was still an elephant with its accompanying appetite and spatial needs. Accordingly, whoever owned the white elephant found himself responsible for a huge beast consuming tons of food a year out of which he could get no work. The man who wished to destroy his enemy without violence could merely bequeath him a white elephant as a gift. The white elephant gift in English now refers to any gift that men might give each other that would have been better never to have been received. In the United States, many gifts are exchanged at Christmastime that are less than desirable acquisitions—“I already have enough junk, so please don’t give me more.”

God’s gifts are never white elephant gifts, but it would seem that some believe they could do better without them. At His ascension, the Lord gave gifts to men so that they might use them in the church. Paul lists these gifts in Ephesians 4:11: “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some pastors and teachers.” In professing Christianity today, there are those who believe that some of God’s gifts to His church are no longer needed. However, each gift is absolutely essential for today's believers. Apostles were those who had actually seen the resurrected Christ (1 Corinthians 9:1). Prophets, who were specially gifted men, have since ceased to be given to mankind (1Corinthians 13:8). The work of the Apostles and prophets, however, continues on in churches today through the written pages of the New Testament Scripture. Through the Word of God, the Apostles and prophets, being dead, yet speak.

While there is some debate about the Apostles and prophets today, the debate generally finds itself clearly defined along the lines of the charismatic issue. Those who embrace charismatic theology tend to accept the existence of modern apostles and prophets, while those who reject charismatic theology deny the existence of such men in today's world. The substance of this article deals with the other gifts mentioned in Ephesians 4:11; namely, the evangelists and the pastors and teachers. (These last two gifts seem to be treated as one by the translators and are accepted as being the same by many scholars today. This article treats pastors and teachers as the same gift.)

The gift of the evangelist is a subject that has met with much opposition from many quarters for various reasons. Some opposition to evangelists in general comes from a bad experience with one evangelist in particular. Some seem to reason that because they know of one dishonest evangelist, that all evangelists must be frauds. Using the same reasoning, a man who has a bad experience in one restaurant must never go into another restaurant again. The reality of false evangelists does not mean that the evangelist is not a legitimate gift from God.

The evangelist, according to Bible, has two functions: one to unbelievers and another to believers. The meaning of the word itself points to the evangelist’s ministry to unbelievers, for the word evangelist means “one who preaches the good news.” In biblical terminology, the good news is the Gospel—the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ and His corresponding power to take away sin. This is the message that evangelists, being specially gifted by God for this ministry, proclaim to those who are lost. Paul alluded to this aspect of an evangelist’s ministry in 2 Timothy 4:5 when he enjoined his son in the faith to “do the work of an evangelist.” Paul was telling Timothy that in his ministry of feeding the flock as a pastor, he should also take the time to preach the Gospel to unsaved people.

While many today accept the evangelist’s ministry to the lost and even admit that some men are more gifted at presenting the Gospel than others, many often wrongly assume that the evangelist’s gifts are gifts of personally presenting the Gospel to others. They reason that since God did not give them the gift of the evangelist, that somehow they are absolved from not giving the Gospel to others one on one. The evangelist’s giftedness in proclaiming the gospel is a gift for expounding the good news publically, not privately. There are two reasons for this assertion. First, the evangelist is listed in a group of public gifts that Christ gave to men. The Apostles had a public ministry, as did the prophets and pastors. They did not privately prophesy or privately feed God’s flock; this was all done publically. Similarly, the evangelist’s giftedness to lost people is a public talent for presenting the Gospel. The second reason for this belief that an evangelist’s gifts pertain to public preaching rather than private persuasion is that Jesus used the metaphor of fishing for men to refer to privately preaching the Gospel. The metaphor is significant because fishermen are made, not born. In fact, in Mark 1:17, Christ Himself promised to all who would come after Him, “I will make you to become fishers of men.” Privately presenting the Gospel to others is a skill honed by constant practice, not a talent given by God from birth.

The role of the evangelist in ministering to saved people is still a matter of debate today. However, one need go no farther than Ephesians 4 to find proof of the fact that evangelists not only preach to the lost, but also to the saved. After giving the list of gifts, Paul leaves no doubt in verse 12 as to their purpose: “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” If a pastor is to work to present messages in public that will serve to perfect the saints, then the evangelist is to do the same, for both appear in the same list for the same purpose. Most evangelists today, excluding the preachers falsely called televangelists, are interested in doing two things: seeing lost people saved and seeing Christians brought to further maturity in Christ. Most evangelists refer to this maturation process among Christians as revival, a term that implies a loss of spiritual vitality because of sin. Sin robs a believer of spiritual life just as a harmful bacterium robs a physical body of a normal existence. Just as an infection in the body must be destroyed before normal, healthy life can resume, sin must be confessed and forsaken in a believer’s life in order for normal, healthy Christianity to resume. Hence, the evangelist’s preaching to believers is often called “revival” preaching. There is nothing at all wrong with an evangelist preaching on sin to a group of believers in an effort to get those believers right with God.

In spite of the benefits of this God given gift, many pastors, for one reason or another, do not use evangelists. For whatever reason, they have decided that God’s gift of the evangelist must be unnecessary today, perhaps even a white elephant gift. The problem is that by not using evangelists, pastors ensure deficient congregations. Though not as strong or widespread as opposition to God’s gift of the evangelist, there is a movement today that endeavors to marginalize the pastor. Operating on the assumption that a father is the priest of his own home, some fathers have chosen to take their families out of church altogether. Family devotions take the place of faithfulness to the house of God, and the father’s authority is totally independent of any pastoral leadership. This practice assumes that God made a mistake when He gave the gift of pastors to men. It asserts that pastors may be necessary for some, but not for fathers who are actively leading their homes. The result is the same as it is in churches who do not use evangelists.

When God’s plan is in place and working, the results are nothing but positive for the local church: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. (Ephesians 4:13-16)

Unity of faith and knowledge of Christ, maturity in the likeness of Christ, doctrinal discernment, efficient working of the body of Christ, and increase of that body through evangelism and edification—these are the results of having God’s gifts in place and functioning in the local church. Conversely, without the gifts of pastor and evangelist in the local church, the believer can be expected to be factious, immature, gullible, stagnant, and ineffective. Experience has shown this reality too many times. Churches that do not use evangelists are deficient just as families who are not in churches are gullible. Without all the gifts that God has given actively functioning in the church, God’s people will be doomed to immaturity and ineffectiveness.

Does that mean that the system is always perfect? Of course not, for imperfect men are trying to work a perfect system. Fallible men, though gifted by God, are still susceptible to error. Likewise, the hearers who are to benefit from these gifted men do not always heed the messages they are given. The imperfections of believers, however, are a large part of the reason for using these gifted men. Pastors are to continue preaching until everyone in their congregation comes to perfect maturity. Evangelists are to continue perfecting the saints until there is perfect unity in the church. Since no church on record has yet measured up to this standard, God’s gifted men should continue ministering and believers should continue to place themselves under the ministry of these gifted men.

The world has seen enough of immature, powerless, ineffective Christianity. It is time that God’s people take seriously the gifts that He gave to men at His ascension, realize their importance and place themselves under their ministries.