The Renovations Project, funded by a $1 million grant from the Lilly Endowment, Inc. in 2019, is set to launch in early 2022, after a number of pandemic-related delays. Renovations will build up flourishing congregations for the present and future church.
“The grant is really [about] what it means for churches to take the best of our treasured traditions, address the changing landscape of Christian community, and find ways for those two things to help the church of the future flourish,” says Eliza Cortés Bast, who is overseeing the project as supervisor of Local Missional Engagement and Strategic Ministries Initiatives.
The RCA applied for and received the innovation grant before the pandemic began. COVID-19 has simply accelerated the need. “Churches have been navigating the ‘what now?’ and are starting to emerge into ‘what’s next?’” Cortés Bast says. Instead of just thinking about that question at the beginning of the calendar year or the ministry year, she says, “This is the ongoing question of our new normal. What is next for us? Renovations helps us imagine that.”
Renovations is initially launching with a cohort in early 2022 and is accepting applications from interested churches. Through masterclasses from experts and innovators, monthly coaching, and more, a team of leaders from each church will build on the strengths of their church to transform ministry in their context.
Cortés Bast emphasizes that this process will be practical, with participants learning skills for self-leadership and leading change. They’ll also build a theological foundation for disruption, change, and how the church can respond, she says.
Masterclass videos from experts on missiology and innovation in the church will be a key learning tool for the cohort.
“Given the realities that we face, we found that a digital method of delivery would be among the best, so we brought [expert voices] to be recorded, to be shared, so that their wisdom can come right to your context, and you can wrestle with it in your context,” says Andy Bossardet. Initially, Bossardet was involved with Renovations as the RCA’s coordinator for equipping thriving congregations; he is now lead pastor of First Reformed Church in Byron Center, but continues to be involved with Renovations.
The cohort will also give each church the chance to visit an innovation hub and experience innovative spaces and ideas for ministry firsthand. The process comes with a $1,300 price tag for RCA churches.
Interested in joining the cohort? Learn more and apply for the first Renovations cohort.
Eventually, a less intense version of Renovations—think of it as Renovations Light—will be available.
Ironically, a process focused on innovation has required repeated innovation over the past two years as the global pandemic changed so much about ministry and the ability to gather. “We have stopped counting which contingency plan we are on,” Cortés Bast says. “Responding to what our leaders need has caused us to design a process that is more nimble, more contextualized, and has a digital experience that meets leaders wherever they are.”
As Cortés Bast was designing and redesigning the Renovations process in the ever-shifting context of a global pandemic, the masterclasses she was working on shaped her own innovation. “The content in our masterclasses has reminded us to grow in our leadership by listening to what people need, staying flexible and responsive, and being open to possibility,” she says.
“We hope Renovations feels that way to our leaders, too.”
EN 
ES 
KO 
PT