Churches Parenting Churches: A Comprehensive Guide to Planting Daughter Churches

Is there really a need for more literature about church planting when so many good books have already been written about the subject? While a number of excellent books are available, very few address the unique challenges and opportunities involved when churches parent churches.

This dissertation is written with an emphasis on the mother-daughter church planting approach by someone who has used this model for a number of years. God has blessed these efforts in a wonderful way: as of this writing, eight churches have been planted from Overlake Christian Church using the methods contained in this dissertation. Three of them have an average Sunday morning attendance of between 1200 and 1500, and three are running just under a thousand. This model has also been used to start a multi-ethnic church in the inner city. That church numbers over 200 after two years of existence.

Success is not predicated on numbers alone. It is the Lord who builds His church and there are many variables in every church planting situation that influence its growth. However, there are very few new churches that are able to grow as rapidly and as large as those planted by a healthy mother church. From a church growth perspective, there is a clear advantage in starting new churches using the mother-daughter church model.

This dissertation encourages the use of a number of tools available through modern technology, as well as some insights from secular schools of thought. However, there is a dangerous temptation for pastors to replace reliance on the promises and power of Christ, with reliance on secular understandings and techniques to achieve church growth. There is a disturbing tendency in many churches to uncritically accept every secular business, sociological, and marketing tool into the operation of the local church.