Archbishop Challenges Newly Commissioned Evangelists to Lead the Church by the Power of Gospel

Ten new evangelists were welcomed by the Church of England as they were formally admitted into the Office of the Order of Evangelist under the blessing of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rev Rowan Williams last week.

After freshly graduating from the Church Army’s Wilson Carlile College of Evangelism in Sheffield, where they received evangelism training, they are going to be the first generation of new evangelists who will take up the commission to renew UK churches in the prevalence of “Mission-shaped Church” project across the entire continent.

Reported by the Church Army, the Admitting Service was attended by hundreds of people in Sheffield Cathedral with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Vice-President of the Church Army, conducting for the first time. He gave a very inspiring sermon to the new blood that will join 350 other evangelists in the Church. Through the sermon, he stressed on the importance of the work and role of the evangelists in society nowadays.

The theme of the sermon was a continuation of a report entitled “Inside Out” released by the Church Army last month. Whilst there is an increasing influence of “Mission-shaped Church” across the UK churches, the report says that the ministry of evangelists becomes an essential component of the ministry of the church in the mission context of the 21st century, so it encourages evangelists to explore a wide diversity of approaches to help the church in recognising God’s activities in the lives, environment and social context of ordinary people.

Once again, Archbishop Williams in this Admitting Service, reminded evangelists of their great commission - to make the Church grow, stay healthy and becomes mature by the gifts received from God in their hands. He added “the ministry of the evangelist is as central, as basic, to the health and maturity of the Church as the ministry of the pastor, or the teacher or whoever else.”

Looking upon the declining churches in UK, many leaders are trying to define the challenges. One of the most common ones is that the church fails to form a bridge between Christian faith and modern life, and most Christians do not have a clear orientation even though they attend churches. Churches suffer from outflow of congregations and are quoted as “failing to satisfy the real need of people in a suitable way”. Archbishop Williams, explained to the new evangelists how to maintain church growth and maturity.

Archbishop Williams said that the evangelists are gifted with the Gospel, however, if people think that “the gospel is a bit of news that you’d better keep to yourself if you’re wise, the Church fails to be the church, the Church fails to grow up.”

It is the evangelist’s great commission to proclaim the gospel, he added, “All God’s gifts are given to be shared. The gospel is always for me and my neighbour and my neighbour’s neighbour and my neighbour’s neighbour’s neighbour, to the end of creation. The gospel will not sit still...”

What kind of attitude and faith should an evangelist posses as a vital part of the church? The Archbishop stressed, “Don’t domesticate the Gospel and don’t be domesticated by the church”.

Quoting the Scripture on Lamentations 3:23, “They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” He urged the new evangelists to always keep a heart of amazement to the astonishing and life-transforming power of the Gospel because “without the evangelists’ amazed surprise and eagerness to share that surprise, the Church might just descend deeper into its own human cynical boredom.”

At the last part of the sermon, the Archbishop testified that “Christ has already gone to the furthest places of the lower earth. Wherever we go, He is there before us.” Evangelists should have a humble heart that the Gospel is freely granted to them by God. The word of Jesus and Jesus' self-giving are what evangelists should resemble and share freely to all people just like how they are given. Through living in this way - a Gospel life, people can truly meet Jesus face to face through these evangelists. That is where the church becomes a real church.

Philip Johanson OBE, Church Army’s Chief Secretary said, “If the Gospel is to have any impact in 21st century Britain, it is going to be as people see it lived out in communities. This is the challenge for both the Church and Church Army today. These evangelists join 350 others working out in the field to share faith through words and action and I am delighted that the Archbishop spoke so warmly today about the important role of evangelism and evangelists in the Church.”

The 10 evangelists have just completed three years of study at Church Army’s Wilson Carlisle College of Evangelism, based in Sheffield, and are ready to take up new posts in Derby, Manchester, Oxford, Essex, Carlisle, Aldershot, Nottingham, Sunderland and Huntingdon. They include a former police officer; faith adviser to the Home Secretary; youth worker; taxi driver and district councillor, demonstrating the great calling of God to all kinds of people.