Evangelist

Evangelist (Gr., 'a bringer of good tidings') denotes in the New Testament a preacher of the gospel. In Ephesians, iv. 11, 'evangelists' are distinguished on the one hand from the apostles and prophets, and on the other from the pastors and teachers, and hold a rank between both. They were not, like the latter, attached to individual congregations, but preached as missionaries, without having the authority of the apostles chosen as witnesses from the beginning by Jesus himself, or of the prophets, who testified from special inspiration. Philip and Timothy were such evangelists.—The term evangelist is also applied to the authors of the gospels (Gr. cuangelion).