Article
6 Seasons of Change in a Church Plant
If you want your church to survive and thrive through change, you must constantly shepherd people back to Jesus’ mission and vision for His church.
If you plant a church, one thing is guaranteed: the people you start with won’t be the same people you lead in 5, 10, or 15 years. Not because they’ll leave—but because life will change them.
And when your people change, your church changes. I learned this the hard way.
When we launched our church, we were a room full of young adults—mostly single or newly married, childless, renting apartments, and passionate about Jesus. But as the years went by, I found myself navigating seismic cultural and personal shifts I never saw coming.
I led our 3-year-old church plant through a presidential election that carried deep biblical worldview implications. I shepherded our people through the tragedy of Michael Brown’s death and the Ferguson unrest in our city. I led during the COVID-19 pandemic, where political, personal, and spiritual tensions collided in every direction.
Through every one of these seasons, I discovered something:
If you want your church to survive and thrive through change, you must constantly shepherd people back to Jesus’ mission and vision for His church.
For us at August Gate, our vision was clear: “To be disciples who make more disciples who grow to know, love, and follow Jesus together by His grace.” Every transition tested that vision. Every shift tempted people to drift into silos based on preferences, politics, or life stages. My job as a pastor wasn’t just to help people “get along”—it was to call them back to our shared mission.
Here are six seasons of change your church plant will almost certainly face, what I learned walking through them, and how you can lead your people to stay anchored in Jesus’ vision for His church.
1. When People Start Getting Married
In the early days of planting, there’s often a “family on mission” vibe—a tight-knit group of singles, students, and young professionals pulling together to launch the church. Then, one couple gets married … then another … then another.
Suddenly, the guy who led three Bible studies and set up chairs every Sunday is spending more time investing in his new marriage. That’s good and right—but it shifts the rhythms of your church.
This is a discipleship opportunity. Marriage shapes people, and shaped people shape your church. Shepherd couples into this season in a way that keeps them connected to the mission.
How to Lead Through It:
- Celebrate weddings publicly—show the church why marriage reflects the gospel.
- Offer premarital and newlywed discipleship to ground couples spiritually.
- Adjust expectations, but also help couples reimagine what living on mission looks like together.
2. When People Start Having Kids
Few things reshape a church plant like the arrival of kids. Suddenly, your living-room gatherings become stroller parking lots, naps dictate schedules, and your small groups have as many laid-out blankets covered with Goldfish crackers as Bibles.
This season can create tension if you’re not careful. Singles may feel overlooked, while parents feel overwhelmed. But if you lead intentionally, this can be one of the richest disciple-making seasons in your church’s life.
How to Lead Through It:
- Invest in a kids’ ministry before you think you need it—build systems for safety and discipleship.
- Call the entire church into raising the next generation, not just parents.
- Remind parents: raising kids who know, love, and follow Jesus is part of living on mission, not a distraction from it.
3. When Kids Reach School Age
This one surprises many church planters. One day, you’re doing baby dedications; the next, parents are wrestling with school choices:
- Public school?
- Private school?
- Charter school?
- Homeschool?
I learned this when dozens of families in our church started making these decisions at the same time. Suddenly, group texts, small groups, and hallway conversations were dominated by opinions, resources, and, yes, judgments.
Here’s what I discovered:
Raising kids as disciples in ANY school environment is hard. You have to choose your hard.
Our job as leaders isn’t to pick a “right answer” for everyone. It’s to shepherd families toward wisdom, God’s calling, and shared mission.
How to Lead Through It:
- Refuse to elevate one schooling option as “more spiritual” than another.
- Help parents resource one another and encourage one another.
- Keep the mission central: whether our kids are homeschooled or public schooled, we’re called to raise disciples who know, love, and follow Jesus.
4. When People Step into Careers and Homeownership
As your people grow older, they land careers, earn more income, buy homes, and start thinking about life differently. Suddenly, conversations shift from late-night prayer meetings to property taxes, 401(k)s, and school districts. And inevitably, politics comes into play. This isn’t a bad thing—it’s a discipleship moment. People need help seeing how following Jesus shapes work, wealth, and worldview.
How to Lead Through It:
- Teach a biblical theology of work and vocation.
- Disciple your church toward generosity as their financial capacity grows.
- Encourage conversations, especially political ones, to take place with Bibles open. It is scary how quickly our worldview can get hijacked by career shifts.
5. When Society Shifts or Government Changes
Some seasons bring tremors. Others bring earthquakes.
I’ll never forget leading our 3-year-old church through that presidential election with massive implications for biblical worldview issues. People were anxious, friendships were strained, and social media was a battlefield.
In moments like this, church leaders are tempted toward two extremes:
- Avoiding the issues altogether.
- Letting politics dominate the pulpit.
But there’s a better way: shepherd your people through the cultural moment without losing sight of the gospel OR the mission.
How to Lead Through It:
- Preach Christ clearly, but also equip people to think biblically about real-world policies.
- Provide discipleship environments that teach your people how to live out their convictions with grace and courage.
- Remind your church: we are first citizens of the kingdom of Heaven, and we’re sent into this culture to make disciples of all nations.
6. When Culture Experiences Upheaval
Some moments aren’t just political or personal—they’re societal.
When Michael Brown was killed in Ferguson in 2014, our city erupted. Racial tensions, justice, policing, and power dynamics hit our community like a tidal wave. When COVID-19 hit, everything changed again—masks, lockdowns, job losses, isolation, and conflict in every direction.
These moments test the resilience of your mission. People are watching how you lead when the world feels upside down.
How to Lead Through It:
- Anchor your people in God’s sovereignty, but also in God’s sending—upheaval is often a gospel opportunity.
- Prioritize clarity over perfection in communication; your people need your leadership voice more than flawless decisions.
- Keep calling your church back to the mission: even in chaos, we are disciples who make disciples who grow to know, love, and follow Jesus—together, by His grace.
Leading Through Seasons of Change
Here’s what I know after years of church planting:
You can’t stop change. But you can lead your people through it—back to Jesus, back to His mission, and back to His vision for the church.
Each of these transitions presents an opportunity to deepen discipleship, strengthen unity, and refocus your people on the reason your church exists. If you expect these shifts, you won’t panic when they come—you’ll prepare your people, pastor their hearts, and position your church to thrive.
Because at the end of the day, the goal isn’t to preserve the church as it was. It’s to shepherd the church as it’s becoming, always calling your people back to the vision Jesus gave us:
To be disciples who make disciples who grow to know, love, and follow Jesus together—by His grace, for His glory.
