Should Today's Evangelist be CELIBATE ...

DAII · #1 02-17-2011, 07:22 PM

The apostle Paul calls it a gift ... for most of us guys ... he's out of his mind ...

notwithstanding, Paul was able to evangelize the world as he knew .... partly because he did not have a wife or familial commitments.

Disregarding my belief that the 1st century evangelist held a different role and job description from today's denominational or even independent evangelist ... one has to wonder the strain put on the evangelist having to juggle his family life and being on the road preaching the church circuit ...

Even in Apostolica ... we are seeing a growing number of evangelists either not married or divorced ... or experiencing great strains on their marriage ...

The economics of today make it cost prohibitive for a full-time evangelist to bring his wife and kids along for the ride.

Should bible schools and church leaders encourage those who want to enter the evangelist circuit to choose a life of celibacy?

Maybe Lee is onto something?

Cindy · #2 02-17-2011, 07:27 PM

Are you talking about married evangelists?

Socialite · #3 02-17-2011, 07:34 PM

Not understanding the question. Why would they need to be?

Jack Shephard · #4 02-17-2011, 08:15 PM

I think they all should be...married or not. Let a frustrated preacher get in front of a crowd and preach out of frustration since we know that NEVER happens now.

DAII · #5 02-18-2011, 06:20 AM

In adherence to ever-changing DICTA ... I will post my quote at www.apostolicidentity.com ....

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The apostle Paul calls it a gift ... for most of us guys ... he's out of his mind ...

notwithstanding, Paul was able to evangelize the world as he knew .... partly because he did not have a wife or familial commitments.

Disregarding my belief that the 1st century evangelist held a different role and job description from today's denominational or even independent evangelist ... one has to wonder the strain put on the evangelist having to juggle his family life and being on the road preaching the church circuit ...

Even in Apostolica ... we are seeing a growing number of evangelists either not married or divorced ... or experiencing great strains on their marriage ...

The economics of today make it cost prohibitive for a full-time evangelist to bring his wife and kids along for the ride.

Should bible schools and church leaders encourage those who want to enter the evangelist circuit to choose a life of celibacy?

Maybe Lee is onto something?

DAII · #6 02-18-2011, 06:28 AM

Here is a confused Apostolic evangelist who believes Acts 2:38 is the Gospel ...

Your thoughts on his remarks at about the minute mark regarding priorities in his message entitled "The Profitable Gospel" ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nii0p5BqCyE

DAII · #7 02-18-2011, 09:17 AM

I asked TimLan, a former evangelist, his opinion of this ... he gave me permission to post his response:

" With the key word being "encourage," I think your post has some validity. I think most evangelists--like most of us--would fall under the category "it is better to marry than to burn," though.

But really ... it's not just the sex drive. Yes, an evangelist should not have a lot of commitment, financial, etc. Going a step further, a lack of family would definitely make him more mobile.

I'm not an evangelist anymore, but I am well on the way to fulfilling my later-in-life goal of earning a History PhD at one of our nation's elite History grad schools.

I am single, don't owe anyone anything, and my kids are grown and on their own and do not depend on me anymore for financial support. I am mobile. I could move anywhere in the country effortlessly and within a moment's notice. I could NOT pursue my educational goals effectively if my personal circumstances were not thus.

I admit, at times I do look at some of my friends' situations--you, for instance--married to a beautiful, intelligent woman, and I ache.

But bottom line, my situation MUST remain the same for me to fulfill my goals. It can be no other way.

Evangelists perhaps need more of this mentality. They seem to want their cake and to eat it too. And from the looks of most of them--they take that colloquialism literally."

Cindy · #8 02-18-2011, 11:05 AM

I see Timlan's point. Although the Word speaks of Evangelists, it doesn't give any instructions for them like it does for Bishops.
It would seem to me they would at least need a home base, to go to for support, and I don't mean financial support only.

DAII · #9 02-18-2011, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cindy

I see Timlan's point. Although the Word speaks of Evangelists, it doesn't give any instructions for them like it does for Bishops.
It would seem to me they would at least need a home base, to go to for support, and I don't mean financial support only.

No doubt ... a "home-base" is necessary ...

I just picture some young doe ... at 19 or 20 thinking she's going to marry a world famous evangelist ... and 10-20 years later ... wondering what she was thinking while she stays home and "mans" the homestead.

Wonderin' if "The Profitable Gospel" has taken her Buck.

Digging4Truth · #10 02-18-2011, 11:28 AM

This also operates under today's definition of evangelist which is "basically" a traveling preacher.

An evangelist is an evangel... a herald. That could have well meant, and probably did mean, someone who was more gifted in the area of spreading the word on a local basis and didn't of necessity mean someone who traveled from place to place evangelizing.

Our modern model creates issues that didn't exist in the true design used by the early church.