Leading with Intentionality

Over the years, I've had the privilege of pastoring in a wide range of settings, small and large churches, church plants and established congregations, communities in need of revitalization and those thriving, multi-site and church-planting churches, monoethnic and multi-ethnic, and even multi-lingual, and younger, older, and multi-generational congregations. Those experiences have taught me that every stage of church life demands a different mindset and skill set. What works in one season can actually hold you back in the next. Understanding these stages is essential for leaders who want to shepherd their churches toward health and multiplication.

Church Plant

In the earliest days, the focus is simple yet incredibly hard, evangelism, spiritual formation, and building a core group of faithful disciples. Leadership is highly visionary and hands on. The church planter casts a mission, inspires volunteers, and mobilizes small teams. Systems are minimal, meeting spaces, finances, and schedules often feel informal. Pastoral care is highly personal, with the planter shepherding individuals and families one-on-one. This stage is exciting and exhausting. But not every church plant survives to the next stage.

Established Church

As the church matures, roots deepen. Discipleship expands through Bible studies, small groups, and mentoring programs that encourage spiritual maturity. Leadership broadens beyond the pastor, with elders and ministry department heads sharing responsibility. Management becomes more formal, budgets, staff roles, and governance stabilize operations. Pastoral care shifts from informal to organized, with counseling, visitation, and support ministries ensuring the congregation feels nurtured. This stage brings stability, but it also introduces the temptation to settle for maintenance rather than mission. Most churches in America today don't go past this stage. In fact, over time, they are more likely to remain in maintenance mode or die a slow death than to reproduce.

Multi-Site Church

When a church moves to multiple campuses and even multiple languages, everything changes. Discipleship must adapt to diverse contexts while remaining aligned with the core vision. Leadership multiplies, campus pastors and ministry leaders carry vision locally, while central leadership provides overarching direction. Management systems become complex, involving HR, finances, communication, and technology to keep campuses connected. Pastoral care is both local and centralized, each campus shepherds its people, while specialized ministries serve across locations. This stage demands strong systems and a unified culture to prevent fragmentation.

Church Planting Church

The ultimate shift occurs when a church embraces multiplication as its mission. Discipleship moves beyond growth to reproduction, training disciples to become disciple-makers in new communities. Leadership extends outward, raising up and sending leaders to plant new churches. Management systems support multiplication through training, funding, and coaching. Pastoral care expands beyond one congregation, nurturing planters and supporting new communities. This stage requires a mindset that prioritizes sending over keeping, and mission over comfort.

Challenge

Every stage of church life demands a leadership shift. What sustains a plant won't scale a multi-site church. And what works for an established church can actually hold back a multiplying movement. The question every leader needs to ask is, what needs to change in me and in our systems to thrive in the next stage?

Unfortunately, too many leaders are just winging it. Pastors, elders, even entire boards are making it up as they go. And the advice they're getting often comes from church-planting gurus who've never planted a church, or from growth experts who've never grown one. When theory replaces experience, strategy becomes guesswork, and guesswork rarely produces fruit.

You don't have to do this alone. But you do need the right people around you. Find mentors who've walked the road you're on. Build networks that offer proven systems, not just ideas. Surround yourself with leaders who think in terms of multiplication and have accomplished it. Because the future belongs to churches that stop winging it and start leading with intentionality.