The Pastor's Role in Evangelism

Often the job description of a pastor can be inconspicuous and differ from church to church. Is evangelism, or sharing the good news of what Jesus Christ did for the world, solely the duty of the pastor? Or does this duty lie in the job description of his congregants? Or could the job of evangelism be both for the pastor and his members? Like many aspects of the church, there are varying views on this topic.
Before one can discover if the task of evangelism is the sole duty of the pastor, the pastor’s duty should be defined. Contrary to popular belief pastors do much more than preach on Sundays and Wednesdays. Dr. Thom S. Rainer wrote, “The nature of a pastor’s job [has him] on call 24/7.”1 A 2008 LifeWay Research Poll asked both part time/bi-vocational pastors and full time pastors how many hours each week they worked. Thirty percent (the majority) of those polled said they worked between fifty and fifty-nine hours each week.2 The job of a pastor is very unpredictable. Many pastors attempt to plan their week out, however this rarely goes as planned. Throughout his week a pastor has many scheduled things he must do. For example, he must do his personal devotions and Bible study, sermon preparation for Wednesday and Sunday morning/night, elder/deacons meetings, visitation (the sick, and members in general), and the occasional counseling meeting. However, a pastor is always on call and must be able to attend to emergency situations and go to the hospital and officiate funerals. Needless to say, a day in the life of a pastor rarely goes as planned.3
There are three New Testament passages that have the word ‘pastor’ in them.4 Ephesians 4:11 says, “ And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,...

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...is the duty of all Christians. Verse one says, “. . .and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles,” and verse four says, “Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.” The phrase ‘preaching the word’ comes from the Greek word ‘euangelizo’, meaning evangelizing. Everyone except the apostles, who were regarded as great leaders of the day, went all around evangelizing. 9This is not to denote what the apostles were doing, they also spread the good news of Jesus Christ.
No, it is not the sole duty of the pastor to evangelize. Yes, he should, and is commanded by God to take part in evangelizing, but it is not his sole duty. This truth can be found in Scripture, and many experts on pastoral ministry and evangelism agree that the pastor should train his members in evangelism.