Igniting a Parent-Church Movement in the Congregations of North America

Guided by the misleading church planting metaphor, North America\u27s churches do not establish thriving new congregations in sufficient numbers to evangelize emerging generations effectively. A better metaphor is needed. In order to reach and disciple emerging North American generations effectively, a church parenting culture must be created in North American churches. The purpose of this project is to provide a book designed to motivate potential parent-churches to conceive, birth, and nurture daughter congregations. Section 2 establishes the priority of starting new churches in the evangelistic task. The section also demonstrates that existing churches do not establish a sufficient number of new congregations, especially those aimed at emerging generations. It concludes by exploring the idea that the short-comings of new church projects may be due to the use of the misleading metaphor, church planting. Section 3 demonstrates the appropriateness of this project by surveying prior attempts to address the problem and by considering alternative media and methods not chosen. Section 4 explores the differences between the planting and parenting metaphors, then demonstrates the superiority of the parenting metaphor. This section presents evidence for the hypothesis that the widespread adoption of a church-parenting culture will increase the quantity and vitality of North American church multiplication efforts. The section concludes with the argument that the parenting of new congregations has been, is, and continues to be among the best strategies for the evangelization of emerging generations. Sections 5 describes, specifies, and proposes the preparation of a publication ready book manuscript for potential parent-church pastors and leaders. The book will motivate readers to step forward confidently and adopt the parenting model for new daughter churches. A copy of the book follows the appendices and bibliography. Section 6 reflects on and evaluates the execution of the projects. It includes suggestions for improvements based on the experience of producing the project