The Bible speaks of evangelism as a spiritual gift:

And He Himself gave some to be . . . evangelists (Ephesians 4:11).

The word evangelism comes from a Greek word meaning "to proclaim the good news." An evangelist has a particular gift in telling others the good news about Jesus Christ. The good news is that Jesus died for the sins of the world, was buried, and rose again on the third day; by doing this, He conquered sin and death. Evangelism consists of telling others the gospel story. It is not a "nonverbal witness." Evangelists proclaim the message to others.

All Believers

All believers are commanded to evangelize.

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19).

Although every believer is instructed to evangelize, some are specially gifted with this ability. The New Testament gives examples of those who have the gift:

On the next day we who were Pauls companions departed and came to Caesarea, and entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him (Acts 21:8).

Use Gift

Paul exhorted Timothy to exercise his gift of evangelism:

But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry (2 Timothy 4:5).

A person with the gift of evangelism does not necessarily have to exercise it before a large audience. It can be done on a one-on-one situation. Philip, the evangelist, did both public and personal evangelism (See Acts 8).