Kingdom Proclaimers Report
“Do the Work of an Evangelizer”
WHAT does it mean to be an evangelizer? The word is a translation of the Greek eu·ag·ge·li·stesʹ, which is closely related to the word eu·ag·geʹli·on, meaning “good news.” Hence, an evangelizer is a preacher, or messenger, of good news.
All true Christians are evangelizers because they proclaim the good news about God’s Kingdom. Appropriately, the apostle Paul admonished Timothy to “do the work of an evangelizer.” Timothy was to take this work seriously. Paul urged him to ‘keep his senses in all things’ and to ‘accomplish his ministry fully.’—2 Timothy 4:5.
As evangelizers we too take our ministry seriously and ‘keep our senses,’ or remain alert to share the good news at every opportunity. Many have thus come to know Jehovah and his promises after being contacted by Jehovah’s Witnesses in an informal setting. This is what happened to Seymore, a man in Barbados.
Seymore was a public-school teacher. Charles, a part-time teacher in the same school and one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, was an alert evangelizer. He was a full-time minister, or pioneer, and used every opportunity to share the good news with others. It was through Charles’ informal witnessing that Seymore heard the Kingdom message for the first time.
Soon Seymore too was determined to share Bible truths with as many as possible. So he started informal conversations with people at his place of employment, especially his students. Though in some lands religion must be kept out of public schools, this man was assigned to teach religious and moral values. But now Seymore’s old views on these matters had been replaced by his newly acquired Bible knowledge. During recess periods, he talked to his pupils about God’s promise of a new world and the prospect of everlasting life.
How did the children react? Many displayed genuine interest in the good news of Jehovah’s Kingdom. In time, Seymore began to conduct Bible studies with 13 of his students. Their interest was such that they arranged to study the Bible twice a week. Eventually most of them began to attend the Christian meetings at the local Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses. So far nine of them have become dedicated and baptized Witnesses of Jehovah. As for Seymore, he now accomplishes his ministry fully by serving as a regular pioneer and an elder in one of the congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Barbados.
This is just one example of how Jehovah’s Witnesses throughout the world ‘do the work of evangelizers,’ in part by sharing in informal witnessing. They follow the Bible’s admonition found at Colossians 4:5, 6, which says: “Go on walking in wisdom toward those on the outside, buying out the opportune time for yourselves. Let your utterance be always with graciousness, seasoned with salt, so as to know how you ought to give an answer to each one.”