EVANGELIST (Gk. eitarytXto-r*, erange lisk7s, bringer of good tidings, from evangelizesthai, to preach the Gospel, from dale 7iXtoe,evangelion, gospel). A term which oc curs in the New Testament, and designates one of the several phases of ministry that grew up, with the work of the early Church (Acts xxi. S; Eph. iv. 11; II. Tim. iv. 5). The service which it represented was of a missionary character, itinerating rather than local, pioneer rather than supplemental, its purpose being to carry the Gospel message to new parts, preparing the way with aggressive work for the more settled and organizing service which should follow, though not necessarily without a local centre for work, as Philip had in Clesarea and Timothy in Ephe sus.
In post-Apostolic times this service underwent a radical change, losing its missionary character and even its itinerant form; so that the term came to be used for those who, in public worship, read and explained the written Gospels, and for those who, apart front all connection with Church service, transmitted in writing the Apostolic teaching, coming finally to have exclusive refer ence to the writers of the four Gospels. This has
continued to be its distinctive meaning, though it is also used to-day, somewhat in its earlier sense, to denote a preacher of the Gospel whose work is given specifically to awakening personal interest in religion and who is not permanently connected with any local field nor devoted to the usual service of the pastorate. Consult: Zilckler, "Diakonen and Evangelisten," in\Biblische and •irehenhistorische St udien (Munich, 1893 ) ; Reville, Les origines de l'episcopat (Paris, 1895) ; Zahn, llissionsmethoden itra Zeitalter der Apostel (Erlangen, 1886).