IBI Newsletter Spring 09
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Walk with us
It
is good not to walk alone! We enjoy and deeply appreciate the company
of many of you who walk with us. Some walk as supporters, helping to
carry forward the vision for IBI through prayer and financial support.
We are grateful that the Lord has placed us on your heart and that you
have responded by journeying with us in this way. Others walk with us
for a time as students. Several will finish their courses in May and
our paths will diverge. As they depart, we are now meeting new students
who are following a ‘call’ to begin a journey with us.
In walking alongside one another we are spurred on to greater things
than we imagined ourselves capable. In the physical sense, walking
gives us time to think, to talk, to listen to one another and it
creates community. For many of us car drivers, walking is something we
do to exercise but we seldom walk to get anywhere! Not so with
Scripture - in the Bible everyone is walking somewhere and with a
purpose both physical and spiritual. Likewise, we are called to be a
people on the move, growing spiritually and, as we are changed,
changing society by the way we live.
God called Abraham out of Ur and Abraham walked all the way to Canaan
and into God’s blessing for his life and the whole earth. God called
Moses to bring his people out of Egypt and they walked (with a few
detours over 40 years!) into the blessing of the Promised Land.
Jesus walked the Galilee area and the Gospels recall journeys back and
forth to Jerusalem. He walked from Gethsemane to Golgotha; and the
risen Lord walked from Jerusalem to Emmaus. As he walked, he taught.
There are two verses at the beginning of Matthew 5 that are intriguing
and easily missed:
“When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a
hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed
with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his
climbing companions…” (Mt 5:1-2 The Message)
The Gospels make it obvious that Jesus had a very deliberate plan in
place for his three-year, itinerant ministry, part of which was
developing his disciples. His message was received by many. At times
it was appropriate that these disciples stay where they were and tell
their family or neighbours the good news (Lk 8:39 and Jn 4:39). On
other occasions, the walk he beckoned them on was more challenging.
Those who climbed and sat at his feet to learn were the ones who would
later be described as people who ‘turned the world upside down’ (Acts
17:6).
To walk with Jesus is a commitment to get to know him through study of
God’s Word, the pursuit of holiness, and a life of sacrificial service
to a broken and hurting world. This will involve, of course, our
spiritual transformation but also the transformation of the culture in
which we live as we model His Kingdom come on earth. The call is still
to be known as the ones who turn the world upside down!
Here at IBI it is a pleasure to walk with men and women who have
responded to this call and to serve them as they are equipped to bring
in the Kingdom in every facet of life whether ministry, mission or
market place. Our students come from all walks of life and from
diverse backgrounds. This makes the journey through here an
interesting and varied one.
In this issue you will meet several students who currently walk with us. Jonny and Sheila Lindsay are working together on the new Christian magazine VOX; Kevin Barrett works in the midst of the troubled financial sector; Marie Quinlan from Co. Tipperary is a housewife and mother of two teenage children and Jamie and Amy Gilbert are newlyweds who have a passion for the Gospel and soccer!
Please pray for these students, and others like them, past, present and
future, that their time at IBI will deepen their walk with Jesus and
lead them to be his agents of change across Ireland.
Linda Basdeo, BA Programme adminstrator
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