Redevelopment Venture Process (RVP):
An Overview

What is it?

The Redevelopment Venture Process (RVP) is a three-year, team-based process* designed to help local churches better discern God's will for the church's future and to provide tools for the church to better navigate the resulting changes and risks as it pursues that future. Although it is not designed to "magically" help a church to grow numerically, numerical growth may result. Churches will not wait until the end of the three-year process to begin making needed changes and implementing the necessary strategies. This will happen at appropriate times throughout the process.

*RVP was developed by Dr. Colon Brown, from the Detroit Conference. Dr. Brown is personally leading the NIC's initial group of churches through the process and has trained a NIC team to lead future groups.

How does it work?

The process relies on a participating church to recruit a team that includes its pastor and seven to twelve lay people. This team will meet with the other participating churches for nine RVP sessions over the three-year period. Attached is a description of each session.

All sessions are held on Saturdays, usually from 9:30am-3:30pm, and each church's team sits together. Sessions begin with an hour of biblical discernment (spiritual formation) followed by the introduction to helpful discernment tools (e.g. Natural Church Development, Appreciative Inquiry, demographics, etc.). The first two sessions are scheduled for September 25 and November 6, 2004.

Each team then takes these tools and applies those which are appropriate for their local church. Typically this means the teams will be meeting back home once a month. The effectiveness of RVP primarily depends on the commitment of the team to the process.

Usually a team will experience the following: 1) initially its members are excited to learn, and to change the church; 2) then they begin to question just what it is that needs to change; 3) this is immediately followed by a period of disenchantment; 4) following this comes a renewed commitment to follow through on the changes that are needed; 5) once there is some success, the team emerges as a community ready to do more. This transition takes weeks or even months.

What does it cost?

$1,600 per church ($1,400 if first payment is received by Sept. 1, 2004). This covers all expenses for the three years including:

• meals for the nine sessions
• 2 Natural Church Development surveys
• demographic study
• all materials
• trained persons to help coach each church through the process.

The participation fee is paid in three payments over the three years:

• $1,200 before Session One; only $1,000 if paid by September 1, 2004
• $200 before Session Four (second year)
• $200 before Session Seven (third year)

Is it appropriate for our church?

The Redevelopment Venture Process allows for the uniqueness of each church. It doesn't say that there is one way to be or do church and then force all churches to use the same approach. It assumes that each church is unique and the way each church carries out its mission will be unique.

Whether or not your church should consider participating depends on these basic questions: 1) Does this seem to be the right process for our church? 2) Is this the right time? 3) Are we willing to make the commitment?

What is our next step?

Study this material and then have your church leaders discuss the above questions. If the leaders feel the church should participate in the process, it should have the church's Administrative Board (or Council) make an official decision.

Once the Conference Service Center receives a check for the full amount of the participation fee, the church will be registered. Checks should be made payable to the North Indiana Conference and sent to the attention of Ed Fenstermacher. Ed will then provide the church with details, including who should be recruited to serve on the RVP team.

What are some of the benefits of a church participating in RVP?

1. Clergy and lay leaders learn that working together as a team is a rewarding and effective means of ministry.
2. Hopefulness about the future increases first with the Leadership Team, then throughout the rest of the congregation.
3. Priorities for ministry come into clearer view.
4. Leaders learn how to lead.
5. The capacity to take risks overcomes complacency.
6. The overall "climate" of the congregation becomes infused with expectation. People begin to acknowledge that the God's spirit is at work in their congregation.
7. Change is seen as a long-term commitment rather than a quick-fix solution.
8. Greater outreach into the community is achieved.
9. Assessment tools provide a means by which the congregation can measure it's own effectiveness as well as identifying areas that are difficult to change.
10. Change is "cultivated" throughout the congregation as the Leadership Team plants seeds of new ideas.
11. Celebrations over "small" and "large" victories builds greater anticipation that "more is yet to come."
12. The "nature of the church" comes into sharper focus.
13. Members of the Leadership Team experience deeper spirituality.
14. Congregational health is encouraged; numerical growth is seen as a by-product of "healthy roots."
15. People learn how to talk about their faith with one another.
16. Congregations learn from each other when gathered in a common learning experience.

* The "benefits" are taken from two separate focus group studies conducted with clergy and lay leaders whose congregations are engaged in the Redevelopment Venture Process. The focus groups were conducted in the summer of 1999 and in the summer of 2000.

Those North Indiana Conference churches that are participating…

Contact the following United Methodist churches to hear how the RVP is going: Auburn First, Beaver Dam, Bluffton First, Fort Wayne Crescent Ave., Hobart Trinity, Jefferson Center, Nappanee, Parker City, Portage First, Warsaw First, Warsaw Trinity. Note: Keep in mind that they haven't yet completed the process.

Redevelopment Venture Process: Overview of Sessions