Some brethren teach that benevolence is evangelism, or should be used for evangelistic purposes. The Bible does not teach such, rather it teaches against such doctrine.

1. The apostles said, “It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and  serve tables” (Acts 6:2). If serving tables (benevolence) is evangelism, they would not have been leaving the word of God by serving tables.

2. The word of God forbids us providing benevolence to the lazy man or the false teacher (2 Thess. 3:10; 2 Jn. 9,10). Does this mean that we cannot evangelize (teach) these people?

3. Every person in the world needs to hear the gospel (Mk. 16:15,16), but not every person in the world is the object of benevolence.

4. If benevolence is evangelism, then it is also true that evangelism is benevolence. Does this mean that if a person is hungry we can just preach to him?

5. Jesus told the multitude, “you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled” (Jn. 6:26). If benevolence (the food He provided) was evangelism, why did he criticize them for eating?

No, benevolence is not evangelism and churches should not try to use it as such.