An Unwitting Evangelist

 

An evangelist is defined as “one who delivers good news” and can be used to describe anyone who proclaims the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Evangelist is also the designation given to a particular type of ministry, as can be seen in Ephesians 4:11-12, which states that it was Christ, who “gave gifts to people”; he appointed some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists, others to be pastors and teachers. He did this to prepare all God's people for the work of Christian service, in order to build up the body of Christ. (GNT).

And in Acts 8:25 we see that there can be an overlapping of the work of Christian service as the apostles were also engaged in evangelistic work.

After they had further proclaimed the word of the Lord and testified about Jesus, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages. (NIV)

While Apostle Paul, in his second letter to Timothy, wrote to him saying, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry (2 Timothy 4:5 NIV).

An evangelist is not confined in service to any one specific area but is a mover and shaker; it’s evangelists who founded the church, spreading the good news of the wonders of Jesus to those who hadn’t yet heard.

We come across one such person in the gospel of John who ran around spreading the better than good news of Jesus Christ to everyone, quite unaware of her newfound role and unintentional ministry of evangelism. This unnamed person had become an unwitting evangelist.

John chapter 4 relates the story of Jesus’ encounter with a Samaritan woman at a well while on His way to Galilee. She came to the well to get some water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.” (v 7); this was the beginning of a long discourse which ended with Jesus saying to her, “…I am the Messiah.” (v 26). Upon hearing this the woman left her water jar and went back to town. She told the people there, “A man told me everything I have ever done. Come see him. Maybe he is the Messiah.” So the people left the town and went to see Jesus. – John 4:28-30 (ERV)

This Samaritan woman’s life had been shaped through her experiences and though she is often maligned and vilified in sermons because she had had five husbands and the man she was living with was not her husband (v 16-18), Christ saw something in her that she did not see in herself, and by giving her a clearer knowledge of herself, opened up the possibility that she could change, turn her life around and find her way even after heading in the wrong direction for many years.

Many of the Samaritan people in that town believed in Jesus. They believed because of what the woman had told them about him. She had told them, “He told me everything I have ever done. The people said to the woman, “First we believed in Jesus because of what you told us.” – John 4:39, 42a (ERV)

The much-disparaged unnamed Samaritan woman of John 4, was the first to evangelize by proclaiming, Come, see a Man Who has told me everything that I ever did! Can this be [is not this] the Christ? [Must not this be the Messiah, the Anointed One?] (v 29 AMPC), a simple message filled with passion and rooted in authenticity, that led to the transformation of many lives.

Beloved, this woman who became an unwitting evangelist is the same woman who once said to Jesus, How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan [and a] woman, for a drink?—For the Jews have nothing to do with the Samaritans— (v 9 AMPC). Spreading the good news is not restricted to a role, a position, any particular vocation or a specific ability but has everything to do with knowing Christ and being known by Christ.

Open yourself to the possibility that Christ may call you into His service even when you’re unaware that you possess the character that He requires.

Amen †

Shelley Johnson “An Unwitting Evangelist” © 2026 July 8, 2026