Evangelists are also Christ’s gifts to the church (Eph. 4:11), but how they become such men is not told in the Bible. Prophets and teachers can be such men because they have received the gift of prophecy and the gift of teaching, respectively (1 Cor. 12:10; Rom. 12:6-7). But the Bible does not tell us how the evangelists become evangelists or on what basis they become evangelists. Perhaps because they have received the evangelistic gift, they are set up by God to be the evangelists with the evangelistic office.
The work of the evangelists is to preach the gospel. Although God commands all believers to preach the gospel, the Bible shows us that God especially set some to be evangelists. They do not preach the gospel in an ordinary way; they are wholly devoted to the work of gospel preaching. Gospel preaching is their work. Philip was such a person (Acts 21:8). Whereas the work of the prophets and teachers is, in general, directed toward those who are within the church for their building up, the work of the evangelists is directed toward those who are outside the church to save them into the church. The evangelists travel from place to place to do the work of gospel preaching. For instance, Philip was in Jerusalem originally; then he went to Samaria and many other places to preach the gospel (Acts 8:5-12, 26-40; 21:8). Although the evangelists may preach the gospel to save sinners, it is the task of the apostles, not the evangelists, to establish churches officially in every place (Acts 8:5-12, 14-17). The evangelists can merely go out to different places to preach the gospel; those who can go out to preach the gospel and establish the churches are the apostles.
According to the grammatical construction of the original text of Ephesians 4:11, shepherds and teachers refer to one class of persons who have the gift of shepherding and teaching. They have received the grace of God and are burdened to take care of the believers, and they also know the Bible and understand the teachings of God’s Word so that they can help the believers to know the truth. The shepherds’ shepherding and the teachers’ teaching are two-in-one and are inseparable. Those who shepherd must also teach, and those who teach must also shepherd. Hence, shepherding and teaching are one gift, and shepherds and teachers are the same class of persons. In the New Testament we find reference to an apostle (for example, Paul) and a prophet (for example, Agabus) and an evangelist (for example, Philip) and a teacher (for example, Manaen—Acts 13:1), but nowhere in God’s Word do we find anyone referred to as a shepherd. This confirms the fact that shepherds and teachers are one class of persons.
The work of the shepherd-teachers is to shepherd and teach the church of God, that is, to feed, nurture, instruct, and lead people with the word of God. Prophets speak the word of God with revelation; teachers interpret the word of God in an ordinary way. What the prophets speak is mainly God’s revelation; what the teachers teach is mainly the truths already revealed in the Word. Based on what God has revealed, the teachers interpret to others the truths that others may be enlightened and edified in the truth. They, like the prophets, function mainly in the local church (Acts 13:1), but wherever they go they can shepherd and teach the church of God. Apollos was such a person. Wherever he went, whether to Ephesus or to Corinth, he instructed others and watered them with the word of God (Acts 18:24-28; 19:1; 1 Cor. 3:6).