“Wow, did you hear? The great missionary Paul and his buddy, Barnabas, are having a disagreement.” Acts 15:39 says that “Their disagreement was so sharp that they separated. Barnabas took John Mark with him and sailed for Cyprus” (NLT).
Early Christians didn’t know what to make of it. Should they take sides? This predicament could polarize the church! Both men were so godly! Both men put marriage aside to labor very hard for the gospel; they had seen churches established everywhere they went. Both were free from scandal in their lives. Surely it was some unimportant difference they were squabbling about. But they were so mature, young but mature.
It turned out that the disagreement was over a young Christian named John Mark. His mother hosted the famous prayer meeting that resulted in the miraculous escape of Peter from Herod’s stronghold. (Acts 12:12) He was a relative of Barnabas and liked traveling with the two but had left them to return home on one mission trip (Colossians 4:10). Paul felt that Mark was “copping out” on his responsibilities. Not trustworthy for future endeavors, he thought. Barnabas was more sympathetic and wanted to take Mark along on a follow-up trip he and Paul were planning. The disagreement was so sharp between them that they parted ways. Paul took Silas with him, and Barnabas took John Mark with him. (Acts 15)
Fast forward about 20-30 years; now both men have mellowed in Christian ministry. At the close of Paul’s second letter to Timothy, he makes this request: “Bring Mark with you when you come, for he will be helpful to me in my ministry” (II Timothy 4:11 ESV). Mark went on to become the author of one of the gospels. Barnabas has disappeared from the pages of scripture.
What about today? Do clashes occur today between two outstanding men in ministry? Unfortunately, YES. While there are probably several, we will focus on one that has had time to age so that we can see some results from the perspective of lapsed time.
CJ and Larry -
That quarrel was between CJ Mahaney and Larry Tomczak. Wikipedia has an article about their early work together and the churches and a magazine they founded, not to mention their beautiful music. Today, both are still serving God and have patched up their differences.
In a nutshell, their clash came as the men began to parent teenagers. CJ had three darling daughters; Larry had an ornery teenage son. It appeared that Larry couldn’t manage his household well enough (some thought) to qualify for leadership according to the scriptural injunction in I Timothy 3:5, “For if a man cannot manage his own household, how can he take care of God’s church?” ESV
Today, I know that CJ’s wife and his daughters host a blogsite (http://www.girltalkhome.com/). I do not have information about Larry’s son. (CJ’s church and ministry have survived church-member, sexual-abuse scandals.) But CJ and Larry’s disagreement appears to be history. After the disagreement point, each stressed a different aspect of the gospel that they both loved, i.e., sovereignty of God and evangelism. Both are still in ministry and online.
In life, if church members choose to switch to a different location, it could be they have relocated or are experiencing a Paul-and-Barnabas or a CJ-and-Larry situation.
So, it appears that the church does not have to take sides. No need for polarization. Just wait it out. In time, youthful zeal tends to calm down. Even the pagans recognized an unseen hand (making ultimate resolution) in their saying: “The millstones of the gods grind late, but they grind fine.” (Plutarch citing Sextus Empiricus from 2nd century) Give God time to do His masterful work in both, or more, lives.