Short and to the point: When establishing a church plant (i.e. mission church), at what point is it prudent to set up the church corporation? Does the mission church operate under the wing of a sending church’s corporation, and have funds overseen through that church entity? Or does it make more sense to set up the church corporation day one?
What considerations come into play? Pros, cons? Prudence?
I would just do it from the beginning. I can’t think of a reason not to.
Unless there really is nobody to handle the money at the beginning. Then you could have a parent church handle the money for you, I suppose. But even then, I see no reason not to handle the easy task of creating a corporation, assuming you are to the point you have somebody doing the planting who you can make the officer.
If you set up the corporation first, do you just file some kind of “vanilla” articles of incorporation, or do you go ahead and have all the bylaws specific to the new church drafted as well?
I’m in the process of reworking our (sending) church bylaws to flesh out processes for all of this as we venture into church planting, and thinking through all the implications of bylaw realities relevant to a particular church and a mission church, and from a reformed baptist perspective. I’d like to make it as simple as the new church just being able to adopt the same bylaws as the sending church, but since the new church won’t be functioning as a “particular” church day one, just thinking through the implications.
I’ve been using those Church of the Good Shepherd bylaws your dad shared awhile back as sort of a guide and template, just “baptistizing” (bastardizing) it as I go along. Also utilizing some elements of the Evangel BCO sections on mission churches which I find very helpful.
I’m sure my first draft will be something of an abomination that would make both Presbyterians and Baptists cringe. 
What I did in Indiana years ago was just bare bones bylaws at first (You will find the wording in Attachment 1. This is probably outdated in terms of links and stuff, and obviously wrong in the details for other states, but it’s the same basic process. Here are the three legal steps:
Get Incorporated: (Cost: ~$30, Time: 1/2 hour)
• On the Indiana Secretary of State website, make sure you have a unique legal name for your church: https://secure.in.gov/sos/online_corps/name_search.aspx
• Register and file for incorporation here: http://www.in.gov/ai/appfiles/sos-registration/landing.html
• Click “Start a new business” and then select “Non-Profit Domestic Corporation”
& register your email address
• When you get through selecting your new incorporated name, you will get a
form with 5 sections that you can expand on the right-hand side.
• See Attachment 1 for how to fill this form out.
• Submit the form and payment
• Put a repeating task on your calendar for every year when you need to file business entity reports with the Indiana Secretary of State here: http://www.in.gov/ai/appfiles/sos-berf/
• Wait for approval from the Secretary of State, & pat yourself on the back.
Get an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS (Cost: Free, Time: 1/2 hour)
• Fill out and file form SS-4 with the IRS, or complete their online application: Get an employer identification number | Internal Revenue Service
• Please see attachment 2 for screenshots of using the online application.
• Note that you receive your EIN immediately this way, but you really want to save the PDF of the auto-generated letter. You should also print it out and make sure you don’t lose it.
• Put a task on your calendar for the date indicated when you need to file form 944 with the IRS.
Do not apply for 501(c)3 status (Cost: free, Time: none)
• Unless you have money to burn, and time to waste, you don’t have to file form 1023 with the IRS. Churches automatically have 501(c)3 status without applying for it. (There are certain possible benefits to getting a declaration letter, but make sure you evaluate whether it is worth the time and money.)
Attachment 1 (Secretary of State Business Entity Registration).pdf (142.7 KB)