Hi,<\/p>\n
I called and talked to Jeff regarding the biblical authority for having a local evangelist or preacher. I appreciate the time he took to talk to me and help me. I do have a few follow-up questions. Also, I really appreciate your website as it is easy to navigate, is full of good information, and is probably the best church website that I am aware of, so thank you for the time that has been put into maintaining and creating the website. I know it has been a good resource to me over the years! Thanks!<\/p>\n
There seem to be several examples in the New Testament of churches sending people out to evangelize or preach. There are also several references to Paul sending Timothy to churches to preach or evangelize. Are there any scripture references of a church bringing someone in to assist them? Or are there any examples of a congregation asking someone to come in and help the local church? Could someone kindly argue that the scripture pattern regarding preachers or evangelists is for a church to send them out, not for them to invite them in?<\/p>\n\t
I’m sure you can find someone willing to argue almost any point.<\/p>\n
During the early persecution of the church by the Jews, brethren came to Antioch in Syria and found a receptive audience. “But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks also, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord<\/em>” (Acts 11:20-21). The church in Jerusalem heard about them and sent Barnabas there to give the new congregation a hand (Acts 11:22). Due to his encouragement and hard work, the church grew rapidly (Acts 11:23-24).<\/p>\n I suspect that Barnabas was feeling overwhelmed because the next thing we are told is that Barnabas heads off to Tarsus to locate Saul, whom he personally knew (Acts 11:25; 9:26-27). The impression is that Barnabas was in Damascus when Saul was converted. When Barnabas had last seen Saul, he was sailing for Tarsus (Acts 9:30). Saul came to Antioch and the two of them worked together for a year in Antioch (Acts 11:26).<\/p>\n Thus, we have at least one instance recorded for us where a preacher was invited to come work with a congregation.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Hi, I called and talked to Jeff regarding the biblical authority for having a local evangelist or preacher. I appreciate the time he took to talk to me and help me. I do have a few follow-up questions. Also, I really appreciate your website as it is easy to navigate, is full of good…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[1511],"class_list":["post-43137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-preachers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":92979,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-a-church-spend-money-on-community-service-to-get-people-to-evangelize\/","url_meta":{"origin":43137,"position":0},"title":"Should a church spend money on community service to get people to evangelize?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 31, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Should a church use its money in community service to gain the attention of people to preach to, because of the current lack of seriousness in people toward the gospel? Is it the correct pattern of evangelism? Answer: \"Jesus answered them and said, 'Truly, truly, I say to you,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":93923,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/communication-fuel-to-the-fires-of-evangelism\/","url_meta":{"origin":43137,"position":1},"title":"Communication: Fuel to the Fires of Evangelism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 13, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jim Deason via\u00a0Biblical Insights, Vol. 14 No. 8, August 2014 \"Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation\" (Mark 16:16). It is called the Great Commission, and so it is. First given to the apostles, the work of Christians everywhere is to take the gospel\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":67928,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/two-sincere-men-want-to-evangelize\/","url_meta":{"origin":43137,"position":2},"title":"Two Sincere Men Want to Evangelize","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 4, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Gardner Hall Biblical Insights 14(9) September 2014 The First Man The first emphasizes \"the true church,\" and when evangelizing, he begins his conversations with others by asking, \"How many churches did Jesus build?\" Later, he quotes Matthew 16:18 to show that Jesus built only\u00a0one. It wasn't the Baptist Church,\u00a0the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":44197,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-does-it-seem-that-there-isnt-that-much-difference-between-the-christian-church-and-the-churches-of-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":43137,"position":3},"title":"Why does it seem that there isn’t that much difference between the Christian Church and the churches of Christ?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 16, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, When I was 15, I was baptized in a church of Christ. Originally the church had been non-instrumental but later used an organ and piano. The minister was also a professor of Greek at a nearby college. If the Christian Church has so many differences, as is indicated\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":60232,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/advice-for-those-looking-to-preach\/","url_meta":{"origin":43137,"position":4},"title":"Advice for Those Looking to Preach","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 8, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Scott Smelser Six random points, in no particular order: A powerful message from a stern and elderly Tom Butler (addressing myself and several college-aged guys many years ago): \"You young guys. You come and tell me you want to preach. No, you don't. You don't want to preach. What\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17439,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/pope-tells-christians-not-to-evangelize\/","url_meta":{"origin":43137,"position":5},"title":"Pope Tells Christians Not to Evangelize","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 28, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Source: Thomas D. Williams, PH.D., \"Pope Francis Tells Christians Not to Try to Convert Nonbelievers,\" Breitbart, 22 December 2019. Source: \"Visit to the 'Pilo Albertelli' Classic High School in Rome: Dialogue of the Holy Father Francis with the Students\", Vatican Publishing House, 20 December 2019. \"Pope Francis told Christian high\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Issues"","block_context":{"text":"Issues","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43137\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}