News May 2008
We now only have 4 weeks of this session to go. The students
are snowed under by assignments and revision for exams, but also happy
to be coming to the end. We’ll soon be celebrating….
Open Days - Thursday 5th June to Sunday 8th June 2008Graduation - Saturday
7th 3pm, following the International Lunch at 1pmBaudouin Galanty, Liège,
Belgium, will be speaking on Thursday evening and Sunday morning and
David Carr, Renewal Christian Centre, Solihull will be speaking on Friday
and Saturday.Please join us for this great time of enrichment as we
congratulate the students who have completed the course. It’s also a
relaxing few days of fellowship and encouragement. To participate in
the annual IBTI missions offering taken at the Open Days, please send
any donations to Mr J.Whyte at the IBTI address. Thank you.
During their 2nd year, the students go out in teams to do placements in various churches around the country. This provides a good opportunity to see how churches work ‘from the inside’ and maybe from a different perspective to their own home churches. This year teams went to Milton Keynes, Solihull, Hockley, West Bromwich and Old Colwyn in North Wales. Thanks to all the hosts, many of whom made this hugely valuable by involving the students in so many activities and taking time to talk them through all the functions, structures and visions of the local church situation. Some groups had more opportunity to minister, whilst others did more observing. Elias, from Switzerland summed up the experience as helping him start to see possibilities of how to reach and serve the community in a new way. ‘God gave me a bigger picture which will help me as I go back to my country’. That is exactly what the placements are about.
For the second year students, who will now be starting the next phase of their lives and ministry, it can be both an exciting and a scary experience. We know that, as they have dedicated themselves to train and prepare to be used by God, He will make it clear to them what they are called and equipped to do