Walking the Four Stages of Faith with Good Leaders
In my last blog post, I looked at the
four stages of faith and conversion that we commonly go through as followers of Jesus:
calling,
challenge,
catalytic moments, and
convergence. In this post, we examine what qualities Good Leaders will possess as mentors in those stages. I admit in that reflection that I oversimplified the stages to avoid formulas and to make it memorable in the contexts I serve (
Water Street Mission and
River Corner Church). I am also okay with that, because it is a framework for reference, not a metric. You can check out that
blog post for more about these stages.
In that reflection, I also emphasized that we can’t go it alone. Faith is not meant to be a solo project. It is never truly just “you and Jesus.” An overwhelming majority of Jesus’ teachings were given in community. Even the prayer we teach us to pray roots us in a communal context. Similarly, most of Paul’s pastoral letters were written to church communities, and all of them involved leading or facilitating a church community. You cannot follow Jesus effectively without living into the communal nature in which it was entrusted.
Since community is so essential to what it means to follow Jesus, we need mentors and church communities that walk with us, keeping us accountable, rooted in discipleship, encouraged, and empowered along the way. I talked about my experience with that in a recent blog post on
ICNU conversations.
Good Mentors for Each Stage
Following up on the conversation on stages of faith, this blog post focuses on what sort of leaders and mentors I have come to see that we need in each of these stages—and what kind of learning journey each stage invites us into with others. At
Water Street Mission, I work with our guests to find mentors. Throughout my seasons of life, I have had many mentors. All of this has taught me that in different seasons, there are other mentors we need to encourage us on our journey. Similarly, over nineteen years of pastoring have taught me that there are times when church communities need a specific gifting from their pastoral leaders, and there are times when we as followers of Jesus might even need specific communities to empower us to live our faith more holistically.
This blog post explores the kinds of mentors who can walk with us through each stage of faith. My own experience, along with the insights of
Mike Breen in
Building a Discipling Culture,
Dave Ferguson, and countless others, has shaped how I think about the role mentors play in our spiritual journey.
The First Stage: Calling
When the journey begins with calling, we need leaders who invite and model. In this season, we feel like life is on top of the world, and emotions are high. In these seasons, good mentors live out their faith in front of us and welcome us to walk alongside them. Their leadership says, “Come and see.” They show us the basics of following Jesus, help us hear his voice, and guide us into foundational practices like prayer, scripture, and community.
The learning journey here is about awareness and imitation. We are becoming aware of God’s presence and beginning to accept what it means to follow. Having leaders who patiently model faith and extend invitation makes all the difference.
The Second Stage: Challenge
So often, the stage of challenge catches us off guard. The excitement of calling usually gives way to disillusionment, doubt, or suffering. In other words, life gets hard. This is when faith feels messy, confusing, or even shaky.
At this stage, we need leaders who guide with honesty and stability. They don’t gloss over the questions, but they create safe spaces to wrestle with God and with life. These leaders remind us that doubt is not the opposite of faith but part of the process of growing deeper. They model perseverance when things don’t make sense and show us how to cling to God in the storm.
The learning journey here is about acceptance and resilience. We learn to accept that following Jesus will mean surrendering our expectations. We grow in resilience as we endure adversity, guided by leaders who can sit with us in the tension without rushing us through it.
The Third Stage: Catalytic Moments
After a challenge often comes a season of breakthrough. We learn how we have been transformed in the face of challenge, and we have let go of some parts of our journey and ourselves in the process. God provides catalytic moments that propel us forward. These catalytic moments are opportunities, relationships, or experiences that stretch our faith and move us into new territory.
Here, we need leaders who equip and empower us in a new season. These mentors recognize our gifts and invite us to use them more clearly. They hand us responsibility, encourage us to experiment, and give us room to fail and learn. They help us discover that faith is not just about personal belief but about living it out in action.
The learning journey in this stage is about adversity and skill-building. Catalytic moments are often stretching, and they bring new kinds of adversity. But through these experiences, we develop spiritual resilience, new skills, and more profound convictions. Good leaders move us from consumers (calling) to participants by empowering us to own our faith and step into the callings God places in front of us.
The Fourth Stage: Convergence
Finally, the journey leads toward convergence—when calling, challenge, and catalysts come together in a more profound sense of purpose. At this stage, we finally realize how God is using all of our experiences up to this point. This stage is marked by maturity, confidence, and clarity. These leaders also keep you focused on leading others.
At convergence, we need leaders who celebrate and partner. These leaders don’t position themselves above us but alongside us, affirming the fruit of our journey. They encourage humility and downward mobility, reminding us that convergence is not about arriving for ourselves but pouring out for the sake of others. They echo Jesus’ words to his disciples: “I no longer call you servants… Instead, I have called you friends” (
John 15:15). These leads keep us accountable and growing, and they become collaboration partners.
The learning journey here is about adaptation and overflow. We adapt by learning how to live out our calling in ways that serve others faithfully. Our faith overflows into mission, service, and presence. With the right leaders beside us, we are released into ministry not just as workers, but as friends of God.
Good Mentors for the Four Stages of Faith
Mentoring and the Scriptures
Where do we find good mentors in the Bible, and how does all of this fit with Scripture? First, Jesus commanded his followers to go and disciple others just as he had done with them (
Matthew 28:19–20). In many ways, this means we are all moving toward the stage of convergence so that we can mentor others toward it as well. Jesus reminded his disciples often that this was his model:
“I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you” (
John 13:15).
Paul himself needed mentors. His calling was clear, and his knowledge of Scripture was deep, but he still needed others to help him walk out what it meant to follow Jesus as a Christian. He humbled himself to receive guidance from Ananias—someone from the very community he had been persecuting. Paul then spent time with the apostles and the early church, learning from them and being discipled.
Later, Paul modeled this same pattern with others. He encouraged Timothy to take what he had received and pass it on:
“The things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others” (
2 Timothy 2:2). He instructed Titus to build a culture of mentoring within the churches of Crete (Titus 2:3–5). Barnabas also exemplified this by coming alongside Paul and later John Mark. The writer of Hebrews reminds believers to be thankful for those who have guided them in faith (Hebrews 13:7). And to the church in Ephesus, Paul describes good leaders as those who
“equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up” (
Ephesians 4:11–12).
The Importance of Community
One final reminder: no single leader can provide everything we need at every stage. You will need different mentors for each season of life and faith. Our ability to teach is limited by where we have been led. That’s why community is also indispensable. Together, the body of Christ carries the variety of wisdom and gifts needed to disciple one another in holistic ways; it is a family of partnerships. Whether in finances, prayer, relationships, family, or spiritual practices, you can find rooted supporters in community.
When we walk through the four stages of faith (calling, challenge, catalytic moments, and convergence), we need mentors and leaders who can
invite,
guide,
equip,
celebrate, and collaborate. And we need communities that bring their diverse strengths so that discipleship is not just instruction but shared life.
Closing Thought
The journey of faith will always move through awareness, acceptance, adversity, and adaptation. At each turn, the kind of leadership we have around us will either help us take the next step—or hold us back. May we seek out leaders and communities who call us forward, steady us in challenge, empower us in growth, and celebrate with us as our lives converge in Christ.
- Which stage of faith (calling, challenge, catalytic moments, or convergence) do you find yourself in right now, and what kind of mentor would be most helpful in this season?
- Who has been a steady guide, encourager, or example for you in the past, and how did their presence shape your journey of faith?
- How might God be inviting you to become a mentor or encourager for someone else walking through one of these stages?
