Mothering new churches is one of the most effective ways to grow the Kingdom of God .

Mothering a new church is NOT dependent upon the size of a church. Small churches can mother as effectively as larger churches.

Mothering churches is not opposed to growing a church larger, rather it is an outcome of the same thing that causes a healthy large church—leadership development and releasing. Church planters are entrepreneurial leaders who often become bored in an established church due to the slowness with which most established institutions grow. They like starting things from scratch, but may not be tremendous at long-term management. Therefore, as you develop leaders to grow larger and healthier, God is going to naturally gift your congregation with entrepreneurial people who will need to plant in order to fulfill their call and live Kingdom life according to how God has wired them.

There are several ways to mother a new church:

• Hive off a church in your local area
• Transplant a church into a community outside your local area by raising up and sending a team
• Shared mother church plants-where several churches work together to support a new church plant
• Start a new congregation within your local church, such as
• An ethnic congregation,
• A youth church, or
• A congregation to a societal or cultural group that is different in it's style and communication preferences than your existing congregation

The Pacific Region, and most of the churches seeking to start new congregations, has adopted a broad stroke process for mothering new churches. The process is a guide to key issues and decisions at different phases of the mothering endeavor but it is not programmatic in nature.