Church Planting: Mother/Daughter Administration

With more and more of our churches catching the vision for church planting, the question has been: 

What is the proper method for accounting and administration of church plants?

Both the Administration Manual and the Administrators' Guide clearly outline the policies and procedures for administering church plants.  You can also access resources and information on our Foursquare website: 

http://www.foursquare.ca/index.php/20090323157/Downloads/nfcd-resources.html

Some important things to remember:

• The mother church is fully accountable for all income and expenses of the church plant. Until the church plant has been approved by the national board as a chartered church and is fully registered as a charity with the CRA, they are in essence considered an outreach of the mother church and must be accounted for as such. 

• There was a time when the church plant would simply swap cheques in order for the mother church to issue tithe receipts.  From the CRA's perspective this is "lending" the charity number and does not provide adequate proof of the operations of the church plant.  Using this form of accounting could have the potential of jeopardizing the charitable registration of the mother church.

• The mother church, at the very minimum, should have accounts for the following information in their accounting system:  bank accounts, one receipted income account, one non-receipted income account, and one expense account.  Upon receiving monthly financial reports from the church plant, one entry could be made into the accounting system.

• As early as possible, the church plant should be set up with their own accounting system (Confluent) and administration.  The mother church would work with the plant to help train and support in the daily operations of the church.  This will enable the plant to be fully operational by the time they are ready to be chartered and on their own.

• The church plant should be able to provide full details of all funds received.  For those amounts that will be receipted by the mother church, there should be detailed records including full name, addresses, amounts given and should all be supported with tithe envelopes.

• A Mother/Daughter Church Sponsorship Agreement should be completed at the start of a church plant.  This is a very useful tool to help both the mother and daughter church understand the relationship and responsibilities that each has for all aspects including accountability, mentoring, and administration.  Please contact the national office to obtain a copy.

Church planting is not easy but there's no way to put a value on the impact for the Kingdom that comes through reproducing healthy churches.  It's a labor of love that will bring eternal rewards.


Useful Quote of the Day:  We should not look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors, and for the purpose of profiting by dearly bought experience. George Washington