by Loren Gjesdal

Was the apostle Paul ever wrong? We owe much of our theology to Paul’s Spirit-breathed exposition of the gospel. Yet there was one time when Paul just might have been wrong. He wrote off a young man, but praise God, Barnabas did not.

Barnabas may not have authored any books in the Bible, but he was inspired by the Holy Spirit to envision who someone might become, despite who they were.

Confidence and conflict

Barnabas brought Paul the convert into the fledgling Christian church while everyone else was still afraid of Saul the persecutor. Barnabas could see the Holy Spirit’s transformation being wrought in this man. He could envision who Paul was becoming. We find the record of Barnabas’ vision and courage in Acts 9:

When [Paul] came to Jerusalem, he was trying to associate with the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took hold of him and brought him to the apostles and described to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had talked to him, and how at Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus (vv. 26, 27).

Paul’s personal experience of transformation and personal benefit from Barnabas’ support should have given Paul high trust for his companion’s judgment. Instead, we read something astonishing, yet all too familiar to anyone who has served in church leadership:

Barnabas wanted to take John, called Mark, along with them also.But Paul kept insisting that they should not take him along who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work.And there occurred such a sharp disagreement that they separated from one another, and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus (15:37-39).

Evidently John Mark had let Paul down. He had backed away from a hard circumstance, and that weakness led Paul to determine that John Mark was not suitable for mission work. Barnabas, however, saw a young man who needed further mentoring, who was still in the process of becoming God’s handiwork (Ephesians 2:10).

Barnabas had seen God at work in Paul, and he likewise saw God at work in John Mark. He knew that Paul was no longer the man he once was, but had become a giant force for the gospel. He believed John Mark could also become a profitable servant in God’s kingdom. Many scholars believe this is the same John Mark who wrote the Gospel according to Mark.

Eventually Paul came to agree with Barnabas. He acknowledged near the end of his life from prison that Mark was indeed a valuable co-laborer: “Only Luke is with me. Pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service” (2 Timothy 4:11).

Core mission

We can learn lessons from these early church leaders.

In church leadership, the needs can seem so weighty and the time so pressing, that we forget the core of our mission: to make disciples. We can forget, maybe as Paul did, that discipleship-making is a process of transformation, a partnership between us, God, His Word, and His Spirit. We need to remember that as church leaders, our primary task is developing people, not achieving measurable goals, accomplishing tasks, or pulling off successful events. As Paul himself eloquently described in his letter to the Ephesian church:

And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ (4:11-13).

As church leaders, our challenge is to picture who someone can become through the indwelling, transforming power of the Holy Spirit, and then help them become a little more like that glorious person each day. We aren’t so much human beings as we are human becomings: “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is” (1 John 3:2).

New perspective

In his sermon “The Weight of Glory,” C. S. Lewis challenges us to see people in light of the glory of the Resurrection. He asks us to “remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship.” In other words, someone very much like Jesus.

May we as church leaders become a lot more like Barnabas — able to envision who someone is becoming in Christ, willing to invest our time and reputation, willing to go to battle to help them get there, as Barnabas did for Paul and John Mark.

Along the way we may also need to be like Paul — willing to acknowledge when we have put the tyranny of the urgent ahead of the mission of discipleship —and then extend to some maturing believer a second chance.