One of the tasks I've offered to undertake this summer is to put together initial drafts for an Ethical Policy and (or maybe including) a Procurement Policy for our church.  I've spent a remarkably pleasant couple of hours looking at what I can find online (everything from "please pay £x to dowload our template" to Westminster and Scottish parliaments, to banks and supermarkets, along with a few charities on the way).  This has helped me to see the kind of layout that people use and the varied styles they adopt, as well as the kind of stuff we might want to include.

So far I am around half way through the pre-amble bit, and already relishing the opportunity it gives me to reflect on how to relate our "charitable purpose", the Baptist DoP, and our adopted 'Core Values' to the way we chose to operate and regulate our life.  For sure, we are a FairTrade Church, and that's a good start.  Definitely, we recycle and re-use where we can, and that's good.  Certainly we aspire to inclusivity and try to consider the needs of people with disabilties, which is pretty basic.  But having the opportunity to sit down and work some of this into policy, a document to which we can be held accountable, is challenging and inspiring.  How do we decide where to invest our money?  What contradictions might we be living with, wititngly or otherwise?  It's good stuff!

I've tried - with no success as yet - to find a Baptist Church who might have such policies... and the only reply I've had is, "well we'll look forward to seeing yours"!

Trail-blazing again?  Surely not!  But, if we are, then well and good.  On which note, I'd better get back to that pre-amble!!