Be a Barnabas | Julie Mullins

Summary

Julie Mullins argues that healthy church leadership is not defined primarily by a title or formal position. It is a way of serving that strengthens others and helps a church’s mission endure. She calls this the “Barnabas method,” drawing on the New Testament figure known as the “son of encouragement.”

Calling, assignments, and growth

• A person’s underlying calling may remain steady even as their ministry assignments change.
• Some of the greatest growth can come through responsibilities a person did not seek or particularly want.
• Mullins says God develops and equips people as they obey and mature; new gifts may emerge through the assignments they take on.
• She encourages leaders to return to the basic commitment to follow Jesus and serve wherever needed, rather than becoming attached to a particular role.

Protect the culture and keep sight of the vision

Mullins uses a safari story to illustrate how a small, alarming distraction—a rat in the jeep—kept her from noticing the wildlife and scenery around her. She compares this to leadership: internal problems can absorb a team’s attention until it loses sight of what God is doing and where the church is going.

Examples of these “rats” include:

• Negative attitudes or tones
• Unresolved conflict
• Competition between teams
• Team members not carrying their share
• A close-knit culture that unintentionally feels closed to newcomers
• Experienced leaders dismissing newer colleagues as “not us” or expecting them to have intuition they have not yet had time to develop

She describes culture as the soil in which a church’s vision is planted. Pastors may lead the culture, but every team member is responsible for cultivating a healthy part of it. Culture must be modeled and taught, not simply assumed.

The Barnabas method: three leadership qualities

1. Lead generously

Barnabas’s generosity was more than financial: it was a way of putting others and the mission first.

• Give encouragement and appreciation freely. Mullins urges leaders not to assume people know they are valued. This applies to volunteers as well as paid staff.
• Learn how people receive care and affirmation. She refers to The Five Love Languages as a way to think about individual differences—for example, words of affirmation, quality time, acts of service, gifts, or appropriate physical affection.
• Use influence to open doors. Introduce people to experienced leaders, invite them into meaningful settings, bring them along on visits or meetings, and give them opportunities to grow.
• Support others even when it is difficult. Congratulate and encourage someone who receives an opportunity you wanted. Mullins argues that another person’s opportunity does not cancel your own calling.
• Invest in people who may not yet be recognized by others. She shares an example of a leader who took on struggling younger team members; several later became campus pastors.

2. See problems as opportunities—and people’s potential

Mullins says pointing out problems is easy; leadership means helping address them.

• Treat conflict as a possible opportunity to build trust, unity, and understanding.
• Look beyond someone’s past or present difficulties toward the future they may grow into.
• Take responsibility for people entrusted to your leadership: notice their potential, speak encouragement over it, and help them develop.
• Ask God for “spiritual vision” to see possibilities others may miss.
• Do not let a commitment to excellence become an excuse to do everything yourself. Experienced leaders may perform tasks automatically, leaving new team members without learning how to do them.
• Teach and equip others—sometimes with practical tools such as checklists—so they can eventually lead well themselves.

Mullins connects this idea to the biblical saying, “Where there is no vision, people perish,” applying it to people’s callings: without someone to recognize, encourage, and prepare their potential, those callings may not flourish.

3. Choose the calling, not the position

Mullins presents Barnabas’s gift of property and money to the early church as a sign of sacrifice, humility, and commitment to the mission. Her lesson is that service matters more than status.

• Be willing to serve without needing a prominent title.
• Let the mission take priority over personal prestige or control.
• Remember that leadership influence is not limited to people with formal authority.
• Invest in the spiritual health of the church by being the kind of member you hope others will become.

She particularly challenges church staff to model the commitments they ask of others: generosity, service, community involvement, love for the church, and participation in its life. Seeing a church’s imperfections, she says, is not a reason to care less; it is a reason to work for its health and unity.

Overall message

The Barnabas approach is to encourage generously, recognize potential, turn problems into opportunities, open doors for others, and serve the church without making position the goal. Mullins presents these practices as a way to build a culture that sustains the church’s vision and produces lasting spiritual fruit.

Speakers and sources featured

• Julie Mullins — Main speaker.
• An unnamed audience member — Briefly asks a lighthearted question about the safari jeep during the closing exchange.
• Biblical sources cited or discussed: Acts 9:26–28; Acts 4:36–37; Proverbs 29:18.
• Book mentioned: The Five Love Languages.