An evangelist perfects the saints by stirring them up to be burning in the gospel-preaching spirit. An evangelist must have the ability to stir up the saints, to set them on fire for the gospel. An evangelist should burn the whole church in the gospel-preaching spirit. We may not be qualified to perfect the saints as an evangelist because we do not have such a gospel-preaching spirit. Our spirit may be very cold instead. How can others be very strong and hot in preaching the gospel if we are not? A real evangelist has a burning spirit within him that stirs others up to preach the gospel. We need this kind of perfecting.
In our training in Taipei, we taught the saints some techniques in preaching the gospel. We found out that the most effective way to gain people for the Lord is to visit them in their homes by knocking on their doors. Many saints were not let into people’s homes because their way was wrong. In the training we taught the saints the proper technique so that people would be open to letting them in their homes. There is the need of such skill, but I do not consider this as a kind of perfecting of the saints in gospel preaching.
To perfect the saints in gospel preaching, the first thing the evangelists have to do is to stir them up. Then they have to teach the saints with the gospel truths. The saints need to be taught what it means to repent and what it is to believe in the Lord Jesus. There are many gospel truths that need to be imparted into the saints. The evangelists also need to train the saints to preach the gospel. They have to train them how to preach, how to speak, how to contact people, and how to converse with people. They also need to equip the saints with the power of the economical Spirit. This means that they themselves must be experientially and presently under the outpouring of the Spirit. The evangelists should also set an example of loving the sinners and praying for them. They must have an overwhelming concern for the salvation of sinners.
The evangelists preach Christ, the unsearchable riches of Christ, and the kingdom of God as the gospel in the way of dispensing for the building up of the Body of Christ, and they teach the saints to do the same thing (Acts 5:42; Eph. 3:8; Acts 8:12). To preach about going to hell or to heaven is too low. That kind of preaching is not adequate for the building up of the Body of Christ. We have to preach Christ as the gospel according to Acts 5:42; we have to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel according to Ephesians 3:8; and we have to preach the kingdom of God as the gospel according to Acts 8:12. This kind of preaching is in the way of dispensing Christ. The evangelists’ perfecting work is to equip and furnish the saints in gospel preaching to do the work of the New Testament ministry, that is, to build up the Body of Christ. We need this kind of perfecting in order to fully enter into the reality of 1 Corinthians 14:26.
The shepherd-teachers perfect the saints by shepherding—feeding and nourishing the young saints. We need to teach others to take care of the young saints, the new believers. The shepherd-teachers also perfect the saints by teaching the growing saints (Acts 11:25-26; 13:1). Finally, the shepherd-teachers raise, equip, and furnish the saints to do the work of the New Testament ministry, that is, to build up the Body of Christ, as the shepherd-teachers do.
There are two kinds of building up—one is by the gifted persons and the other is by the perfected saints. The building up of the Body of Christ by the gifted persons is under the Head’s supply and is done indirectly. The gifted persons do not build up the Body of Christ directly. Even Christ as the Head of the church does not build the church directly. In Matthew 16:18 the Lord told us that He would build His church, but He builds His church indirectly through His giving of the gifts to His Body. Then these gifts perfect the saints, and the perfected saints do the building work directly. The building up of the Body of Christ by the perfected saints is under the gifted persons’ perfecting and is done directly. Ephesians 4:16 says that the Body will build itself up in love because all the members build up the Body of Christ. They build up the Body of Christ by growing into the Head in all things (Eph. 4:15). The growth in life of each member of the Body added together equals the building up of the Body. The perfected saints also build up the Body by functioning out from the Head, causing the growth of the Body that the Body may be built up directly by itself (4:16).
We must have this kind of perfecting work among us in the Lord’s recovery. We must enter into this new light. The co-workers and the elders especially must immediately start to practice this. We should learn how to be apostles, how to be prophets, how to be evangelists, and how to be shepherd-teachers. We need to spend the time to teach each of the saints. After a certain period of time, many of the saints will have the ability to speak Christ. They will practice speaking Christ daily, and at the end of each week they will have prepared something to offer in the larger church meeting. Then in the church meeting spontaneously 1 Corinthians 14:26 will be fulfilled. The attendants will not be waiting for inspiration, but they will have something already.
In 1 Corinthians 14:26 Paul uses the word “has” five times. He does not say that we will have but that we have something already. When we come to the meeting we should already have something. It would be tragic if I came to a meeting for the ministry of the word and did not have something to speak. It would be a tragedy if I had to ask the saints to pray that the Lord would give me something to speak. Every attendant of the church meeting must have something when he comes to the meeting. This is just like the Israelites in the ancient time who went to the festival in Jerusalem three times a year with something of the produce of the good land in their hands. God charged them not to appear before Him empty-handed (Deut. 16:16). We may have been Christians for many years and members in a local church in the Lord’s recovery for years. However, how many times did we have something of Christ with us to speak when we came to the church meetings? We may have had the thought when we came to the meetings that someone else would speak for us. We need to build up a habit of bringing something of Christ to the meeting to speak.
If the co-workers and elders endeavor to practice this new light, they will develop the ability to teach others. The co-workers and elders especially need to teach others to do what the apostles do, what the prophets do, what the evangelists do, and what the shepherd-teachers do. Then the whole church will be full of apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers. What a church this will be! Spontaneously there will be the building up of the Body of Christ among us.