Incarnate Regional Group South West met in Bristol recently and below are some of the thoughts from the group, written by Jenni Entrican from Jacob's Well.

Over a dozen met at the Bristol Incarnate Group on 1^st October 2009 and interestingly, as seems to be common with us, there was a sprinkling of new faces while some of the core members couldn't make it.  As usual we came from a wide range of contexts - some doing initial exploring about planting or new forms of church; some more experienced; urban, suburban, rural, etc.  After chatting together and sharing delicious soup - thanks Stuart - and goodies brought by everyone, we settled into the topic we had decided to explore: along the lines (note the vagueness) of how core values can become core practices.

Ali - newly planting in Swindon - initiated the discussion about how she and her new team are discovering what their values should be, strongly based around the idea of being a blessing to the community.  She regularly asks herself the question - how can I be a blessing today?  We talked briefly about the acronym used by Michael Frost's church in Australia (www.smallboatbigsea.com) of BELLS (although apparently it's currently changing to 4Ls? - flexible, fluid you see!) as a way of helping people to translate values into practice.

What was interesting to me was that five years ago, starting a new form of church, I groped my way towards the realisation that first and foremost we had to be a people defined by our values. Ali and another new student planter, having been part of conversations and able to access some of the current thinking, knew immediately that was the way they should develop.

This kind of discussion throws up to me the question of how we define ourselves as apprentices of Jesus, Christ's body, the church? I do want my group to be aware daily of what it means in practice, but at Jacobs' Well we have made a significant journey to an understanding of the importance of being before doing - more, that our doing has to stem out of our being.  Our identity is not in what we do.

We talked too about how do such things as values and practices make that movement from head to heart.  It's not just about seeing the values writ large.  We touched on how spiritual disciplines and instigating a daily rhythm could help with this (this might be a subsequent topic we consider).

And what place does our ethos hold in all of this?  And what kind of leadership skills might we need?

I suppose in many ways we are left as usual with more questions than answers, but that's ok - or at least we say it is!  It's certainly worth getting together and talking - we usually find someone who understands where we're coming from!!  And it can be a lonely journey otherwise.

What do others think about these subjects?  What have you found?

bristol | church planting