Should Evangelism Be Our Primary Focus in Life?

Summary

Grace in Focus – Should Evangelism Be Our Primary Focus in Life?

Episode Date: April 10, 2026
Host: Bob Wilkin (Grace Evangelical Society)
Guest: Sam Marr
Main Theme: Examining the biblical role of evangelism for local churches and individual believers, its relationship to the Christian life, and the importance of clarity in sharing the gospel.

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Episode Overview

This episode addresses a nuanced listener question: Should evangelism be the primary focus of the local church and individual believers? Bob Wilkin and guest Sam Marr discuss the biblical framework for evangelism, balancing it with other responsibilities, and provide practical insights on how churches can equip believers for ministry.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Listener Question & Context

(01:05 – 01:24)

• John, a listener on a church pastoral search committee, asks:
  1. What is the role of evangelism in the local church?
  2. What is the role of evangelism in the life of a believer? Should it be the distinctive or main focus?
• The question arose after a pastoral candidate emphasized having a “burden for the lost.”

2. Evangelism in Church Services: Tradition vs. Scripture

(01:24 – 02:59)

• Many churches structure worship for outreach: “While the sermons might sometimes be discipleship oriented, they would always have an evangelistic appeal at the end.” (Bob, 01:33)
• Bob critiques this, seeing it as “a mistake in light of scripture.”
• He emphasizes the biblical model: The primary purpose of the gathered church is to equip believers, not to directly evangelize through every service.

3. Equipping the Saints: Ephesians 4:11–13

(02:59 – 03:29)

• Sam reads Ephesians 4:11–13.
• Bob highlights: “The service begins when the meeting is over.” (03:29)
  • Quoting a Plymouth Brethren saying, he affirms that church equips believers for ministry, who then go out to evangelize and disciple others.

4. Encouragement & Mutual Edification: Hebrews 10:23–25

(03:29 – 04:53)

• Sam quotes Hebrews 10, emphasizing gathering for “stirring up love and good works.”
• Bob notes that even early churches separated unbelievers from key participation (e.g., Lord’s Supper).
• Church is for “equipped and encouragement,” not primarily evangelism.

5. Evangelism as a Gift, Not an Excuse

(04:53 – 07:55)

• Bob shares a seminary story: a student claimed not having the “gift of evangelism” excused him from evangelizing.
• He responds with humor: “I wonder if he feels the same way about the gift of giving... Or how about the gift of helps?... Or mercy?” (05:58)
• Dr. Ryrie’s principle: “Although we only have one or maybe a few of the gifts, we’re called to do all of the gifts.” (07:55)
• Even without the specific spiritual gift, all are responsible for general Christian duties: teaching, giving, helping, evangelizing.

6. The Evangelist’s Role & The Purpose of the Church

(07:55 – 09:38)

• There is only one New Testament individual labeled as “evangelist”: Philip (Acts 8).
• The true goal: Evangelists equip others—not just do the work themselves.
• Bob warns, “It’s a huge mistake to think my whole reason to be left here on earth is to evangelize.” (09:13)
• Ultimate purpose: “The purpose of believers on earth is to glorify God. And yes, that includes evangelism. But that’s not our only purpose.” (09:44)
• “If at the judgment seat, you or I are found to be great evangelists, but we were walking in darkness… that would not be a good thing.”

7. A Christlike Balance

(10:25 – 11:15)

• Sam: “If we’re called to be like Christ… He did a lot of evangelism, but also a lot of other things—teaching, good works, disciple-making.” (10:34)
• A full Christian life is multifaceted.

8. Clarity in Evangelism & Preaching

(11:15 – 12:35)

• Bob: “When we evangelize, the crucial thing is that we’re clear... sharing the promise of life to those who believe, not to those who commit, not to those who turn from their sins, ... just to those who believe in Jesus.” (11:17)
• Preaching should cover the whole counsel of God; evangelistic calls should arise naturally from texts, not artificially every week.
• Sam affirms, “It’s a wonderful message, but it’s not all of our lives. It’s an important part of our lives.” (12:30)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the church’s mission:
  “As we see in scripture, the purpose of the local church is to equip the saints for the work of ministry.” (Bob, 01:47)
• On minimizing spiritual gifts as duties:
  “I wonder if he feels the same about the gift of giving... Well, nobody in the church is going to give anything... except those few who have the gift of giving.” (Bob, 05:58)
• On our ultimate purpose:
  “The purpose of believers on earth is to glorify God. And yes, that includes evangelism. But that’s not our only purpose. ” (Bob, 09:44)
• On clarity in the gospel:
  “We need to make sure we’re sharing the promise of life to those who believe, not to those who commit, ... just to those who believe in Jesus.” (Bob, 11:17)
• On being Christlike:
  “If you look at the four Gospels …[Jesus] did a lot of teaching and good works and disciple making. So if we want to have a full experience of being as Christlike as possible, evangelism… is an important part. But it’s only a part.” (Sam, 10:34)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 01:05 – Listener’s question raised
• 02:59 – Ephesians 4: Equipping the saints
• 03:29 – “The service begins when the meeting is over.” (church’s mission goes beyond the meeting)
• 04:36 – Hebrews 10: Encouragement in the church
• 05:58 – “I wonder if he feels the same about the gift of giving...” (all are responsible)
• 07:55 – Dr. Ryrie’s insight on spiritual gifts and duties
• 09:44 – “The purpose of believers…is to glorify God.”
• 10:25 – “If we’re called to be like Christ...”
• 11:17 – “Crucial thing is that we’re clear…” (on the gospel)

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Conclusion

Summary Statement:
The local church’s main role is to equip and encourage believers for all spiritual duties, including but not limited to evangelism. Evangelism is vital but not the sole focus—it’s part of a balanced, Christ-glorifying life that encompasses discipleship, teaching, good works, and other callings. All believers, regardless of gifting, are called to participate in evangelism, and church leaders should ensure clarity in communicating the gospel’s promise of life.

Closing Encouragement:
“Share the simple and clear message of the promise of eternal life that can never be lost to all who believe in Jesus. It’s a wonderful message, but it’s not all of our lives. It’s an important part of our lives.” (Bob, 12:30)

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For those seeking more resources or wanting to delve deeper, visit faithalone.org.

Transcript

[A]

The following is a listener supported ministry from the Grace Evangelical Society. What is the primary role of the local church? Is it evangelism? And as believers, what is our responsibility in regard to evangelism? How can we be simple and clear when we evangelize? Some things we will talk about today. Glad you have joined us friend here on Grace in Focus. This is a ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society. We are located in North Texas and our website is faithalone.org join us there to find out more about our national annual conference coming up soon, May 18th through the 21st. By the way, you're invited and if it's your first time, registration fee is waived. It's going to be a great time of fellowship and learning, recreation and VBS for the kids. Hope you'll go to that website, get information that you need and get signed up. We'd love to have you with us. The website is faithalone.org and now with today's discussion, here is Bob Wilkin along with Sam Marr.

[B]

Alright Bob, we've got a question from John. He's asking about evangelism. Two part question one, what is the role of evangelism in the local church? And two, what is the role of evangelism in the life of a believer? Should it be a distinctive or a focus for the church and for the believer?

[C]

Right. So I know that John's on the committee with his church to find a new pastor. These questions kind of come out of that because one of the people who sent their resume and response said the person said they have a real burden for the lost. And it kind of generated these questions in John's mind. I would say a few things. First of all, I think it's important to recognize that many churches craft their worship service around outreach. While the sermons might sometimes be discipleship oriented, they would always have an evangelistic appeal at the end. They would always have an opportunity to come forward and however the person would say it, to receive Christ, to give your life to Christ, to put your faith in Christ, whatever the pastor would say, that was a big emphasis in Baptist churches and it's a big emphasis in lots of churches. I think that's a mistake in light of scripture. As we see in scripture, the purpose of the local church is to equip the saints for the work of ministry. Could you turn Sam to Ephesians 4, 11, 12, I think maybe even verse 13 because it talks about the various gifted people he gave to the early church and what their purpose was?

[B]

Yep. Starting in 11 he says. And he Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

[C]

And did it say, for the equipping?

[B]

For the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry?

[C]

Yeah. So this reminds me of a Brethren saying, this man came to a Plymouth Brethren Church, and they have a time of silence before where people can kind of prepare their hearts for the service. And this man, who wasn't Plymouth Brethren, turned to the man next to him and quietly said, when does the service begin? And the man looked over at him and said, the service begins when the meeting is over. And there's a lot of truth in that, in that we are designed in the church service to learn about how to serve Christ more effectively in both evangelism and discipleship. And then we go out into the world and we evangelize people and we disciple people. Another passage I think of related to the purpose of the local church is Hebrews 10. That's the one where the author of Hebrews encourages us not to miss church. What does he say there, Sam, in Hebrews 10, 23, 24, 25.

[B]

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. For he who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another. And so much the more, as you see the day approaching.

[C]

Yeah. And the day there refers to the second coming of Christ and the judgment seat of Christ. And the point is, we're encouraging one another in the local church. And so the purpose of our gathering is to be equipped and to be encouraged. It's also a time, of course, for prayer. In First Timothy 2, we're to be praying for kings and all the government officials and all those who are in authority over us. But the purpose of the worship service is not evangelism. In fact, the case can be made that the unbeliever who comes to church, at least in the early church, they would often be positioned off to the side and they would either stand or they would set an area designated for unbelievers. And they were not to take part in the Lord's Supper meeting, that sort of thing. But I remember when I was At Dallas Seminary, we had a class discussion after we wrote papers on justification by faith alone. This was a Greek class going through the Book of Romans. And we had written this paper, and we were talking about evangelism. One of the students raised the point, well, what are we going to do when we go out and become pastors? How are we going to evangelize the people that visit, the people in our congregations, etc. And I had just come off four years on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ, where our primary purpose was evangelism, right? We would evangelize students now. We would disciple. We tried to start action groups, and we would disciple them as well. But evangelism was a huge part of what we did. I remember this one student said, well, you know, I don't have the gift of evangelism. And so he said, I won't be evangelizing. He said, that's going to be the job of the people who have the gift of evangelism who are in my church. And I kind of chuckled to myself because I thought, I wonder if he feels the same way about the gift of giving. Let's see. No, nobody in the church is going to give anything to the church except those few that have the gift of giving. Or how about the gift of helps? Well, nobody in the church is going to help except those few people who have the gift of helps. And nobody in the church is going to be merciful except for those few who have the gift of mercy.

[A]

It's coming. It'll be here before you know it. What am I talking about? The Grace Evangelical Society's National Conference 2026, May 18th through the 21st at Camp Camp Kopas, an absolutely beautiful campground in North Texas, right on the lake with lots of recreation, great food, a great place to stay, wonderful fellowship and wonderful free Grace Bible teaching Information and online registration [e-mail] events first timers waive registration fees. Faithalone.org events I remember what Dr. Ryrie said.

[C]

He said, well, although we only have one or maybe a few of the gifts, we're called to do all of the gifts. In other words, if I don't have the gift of teaching, I'm still to teach my children the word of God. I'm still to teach those who are open in my family or in my neighborhood or whatever. If I don't have the gift of evangelism, I'm still to evangelize. In fact, remember that Paul told Timothy to do the work of an evangelist. He didn't tell Timothy, since you're an evangelist. Evangelize. He said, do the work of an evangelist. And evidently the purpose of the evangelist is to help the other people be more effective in evangelism. Right. To equip them to be better at evangelism. And we only have one person that I can recall in the New Testament who's called an evangelist. That was Philip. In Acts, chapter 8, he first evangelizes this Ethiopian eunuch who's going back from Jerusalem to North Africa. And then he goes on to Samaria and evangelizes a group of people in Samaria. And he's called Philip the Evangelist. But aside from that, we don't have anybody else that's called that. So I would say, look, yes, there are people who have the gift of evangelism, but their purpose isn't to go around to the local church and evangelize all the people in the local church. Presumably, the people in your local church should be believers, except for those who visit. But the purpose of the evangelist is to train the people in the church to be more effective at evangelism. It's a huge mistake to think my whole reason to be left here on earth is to evangelize. You ever heard that one, Sam?

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

The purpose of believers on earth is to glorify God. And yes, that includes evangelism. But that's not our only purpose. If at the judgment seat of Christ, you or I are found to be great evangelists. But we were walking in the darkness and we were not confessing our sins, that would not be a good thing. Of course, I don't think there's any such person. But let's say a person was a great evangelist, but a terrible husband, terrible father, a terrible neighbor, a really grumpy person. But they were good at evangelism. Well, that's great. That one area of their life is great, but the rest of it, not so good. So we're called to be believers who are glorifying God in all areas.

[B]

Yeah. I mean, if we're called to be like Christ. If you look at the four Gospels, the Gospel of John, Christ did a lot of evangelism, but the other three Gospels, he did a lot of other things. A lot of teaching and good works and disciple making. So if we want to have a full experience of being as Christlike as possible, then evangelism, I think, is an important part. But it's only a part. And I think what you were saying about the church's role is accurate, that church service, a worship service, is not really meant to be evangelistic. But that part of equipping the saints is equipping your congregation with the ability to evangelize, even if they don't necessarily have the gift. We should all be evangelists, but we should also be teachers and preachers and fathers and everything.

[C]

So, yeah, I've got two other quick points. Number one, when we evangelize, the crucial thing is that we're clear. We need to make sure we're sharing the promise of life to those who believe, not to those who commit, to those who turn from their sins for those who promise to serve God or promise to follow just to those who believe in Jesus. Another thing is I think it's important that whoever is preaching in the local church does so verse by verse, preaching the whole counsel of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. And as you come to passages that deal with the promise of life, of course you're going to make that clear in your congregation. But we don't just routinely say, every week I'm going to be going ahead and making my message evangelistic or clarifying the promise of life when it comes up. I do on others. I might mention that, but it's not something I have to do every week. Well, I would encourage all of you to be people who share the simple and clear message of the promise of eternal life that can never be lost to all who believe in Jesus. It's a wonderful message, but it's not all of our lives. It's an important part of our lives. And in the meantime, let's keep grace in focus.

[A]

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