International Bible Reading Association - IBRA

International Bible Reading Association - IBRA IBRA is a group of people from across the Church in the UK and around the world committed to daily Bible reading together.

We are in the mainstream but often have a radical twist. Since 1882 we have funded Bible study in developing countries and the UK.

What does it mean to be called? And what if you feel too young, too small, or too unprepared?God said to Jeremiah: "Do n...
12/08/2026

What does it mean to be called? And what if you feel too young, too small, or too unprepared?

God said to Jeremiah: "Do not say, I am too young." To Samuel, still a boy sleeping in the temple, he called - not once, not twice, but three times. To Daniel, a teenager in a foreign court, he gave wisdom that surpassed the experts around him.

This week our writer Thomas Hartman guides us through the Bible's stories of unlikely calling. Our writers explain how again and again, God chooses the ones who feel least qualified - and equips them to do the work.

The question isn't whether you're ready. It's whether you're listening.

Let us guide you through the Bible's stories of calling. Download August FfTW free https://bit.ly/4aR3iQF

A new week in Fresh from The Word and the theme is Nurture. This week our guide is Thomas Hartman, a zoologist and evo...
10/08/2026

A new week in Fresh from The Word and the theme is Nurture.

This week our guide is Thomas Hartman, a zoologist and evolutionary geneticist who loves teaching at his university, builds bridges with underprivileged children using dinosaur skeletons and insect collections, and firmly believes that dinosaurs are the key to teaching children about anything.

His week asks: what does it mean to be nurtured by God in the earliest seasons of life? Through Ecclesiastes 3, Hosea 11, Samuel learning to recognise God's voice, Jeremiah told "do not say I am too young," Daniel in Babylon, Hannah's prayer in the temple, and Moses learning to delegate.

A week for anyone who has ever felt too young, too unprepared, or too small for what God is asking.

Understand God's word with our free Bible guide > download August's daily devotions free https://bit.ly/4aR3iQF

"Let the children come to me." Then: the rich young man who couldn't let go. Terry Lester on Matthew 19: at every stage...
08/08/2026

"Let the children come to me." Then: the rich young man who couldn't let go. Terry Lester on Matthew 19: at every stage of life, Jesus calls us back to childlike trust.

Free daily readings: ibraglobal.org.uk

"Some Pharisees came to him … 'Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause?'" (Matthew 19:3, NRSV)Whatever ...
07/08/2026

"Some Pharisees came to him … 'Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause?'" (Matthew 19:3, NRSV)

Whatever our tradition or theology regarding divorce, the way in which we treat those involved should never be designed to make things worse. All too often, legalistic rather than caring and compassionate responses have added shame and failure to all the other emotions already felt.

In Jesus' day, a man could divorce his wife for any reason - simply by issuing a written declaration - often leaving women homeless and without protection. Jesus explains that Moses permitted this not because it was just or right, but because of how lacking in compassion men had become.

He then describes the ideal God had in mind from the beginning - reaching out in compassion to the powerless, restricting the grounds on which they could be casually cast aside.

Terry Lester explains: the Pharisees wanted to be on the right side of the legalities. Jesus wants to open their minds to God's intentions for all - divine love expressed in the institution of marriage.

Pray with us: Dear Lord Jesus, fill me with your love and compassion, and remove from me all traces of judgement. Amen.

Find out more with our free, monthly Bible guides: https://bit.ly/4aR3iQF

What does greatness actually look like? Jesus was asked that question directly, and his answer surprised everyone. He c...
05/08/2026

What does greatness actually look like?

Jesus was asked that question directly, and his answer surprised everyone.

He called a child into the middle of the group and said: this. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Not status. Not achievement. Not influence or impressive credentials. Humility. Trust. The kind of openness that comes from knowing you depend on someone bigger than yourself.

This week our writers explain Matthew's portrait of Jesus redefining greatness; from the transfiguration to the rich young man who couldn't quite let go.

Let us guide you through it. Download your August Fresh from The Word devotions free https://bit.ly/4aR3iQF

This month, let us introduce you to the writers who guide you through the Bible in Fresh from The Word. Terry Lester ha...
03/08/2026

This month, let us introduce you to the writers who guide you through the Bible in Fresh from The Word.

Terry Lester has served the Diocese of Cape Town in South Africa for more than four decades. He returned to minister in Constantia, the very community from which his family was forcibly removed under apartheid's racial laws. His ministry focus, as he says, is justice for and inclusion of all God's children.

This week Terry explains Matthew 17–19. The transfiguration on the mountain. A boy with epilepsy and mustard-seed faith. The disciples asking about greatness, and Jesus calling a child into the middle of the room. Forgiveness seventy-seven times. The rich young man who walked away.

Understand the Bible through a voice shaped by decades of pastoral ministry in South Africa.

Download August Fresh from The Word free https://bit.ly/4aR3iQF

A new week in Fresh from The Word, and we're back in Matthew's Gospel. This week our guide through chapters 17–19 is Te...
02/08/2026

A new week in Fresh from The Word, and we're back in Matthew's Gospel. This week our guide through chapters 17–19 is Terry Lester, a minister who has served the Diocese of Cape Town for more than forty years.

He returned to Constantia, the very community from which his family was forcibly removed in 1965 under apartheid's racial laws. His ministry focus is justice for and inclusion of all God's children. Transfiguration. Mustard-seed faith. Seventy-seven times forgiveness. The rich young man who couldn't let go.

This is Matthew's Gospel through the eyes of a man who knows what it costs to keep faith through injustice.

Our writers explain the Bible's wisdom from every corner of the world.

Download your August devotions free https://bit.ly/4aR3iQF

"Woman, great is your faith!" (Matthew 15:28, NRSV)Stephen Willey describes a racial awareness training session where pa...
31/07/2026

"Woman, great is your faith!" (Matthew 15:28, NRSV)

Stephen Willey describes a racial awareness training session where participants were asked to say every offensive word they'd ever heard about people of certain ethnicities. They were told there was nothing they could say that hadn't already been heard. The words came, slowly then in a flood. He was shocked at what passed his own lips.

Jesus, Stephen suggests, may have been doing something similar with the Canaanite woman - repeating language he had heard a thousand times, while looking at the disciples trying to send her away.

Not as a statement. As a question.

And then he really sees her.

Not her reputation. Not the category. The person. The faith so great that it healed her daughter in that moment.

Jesus always sees past the label to the human being beneath.

Pray with us: Holy Spirit, burn away our prejudices. Open our eyes and hearts to your compassion.

📖 Get your free daily Bible guide for August: https://bit.ly/4aR3iQF

Are you following July's Fresh from The Word? Pray through The Word - our free monthly prayer sheet - helps you bring th...
30/07/2026

Are you following July's Fresh from The Word?

Pray through The Word - our free monthly prayer sheet - helps you bring these themes to God, not just read them.

Sign up free: https://bit.ly/4y2GBCO

Why is it that the people who knew Jesus best were also the ones who rejected him? In Matthew 13, Jesus goes back to hi...
29/07/2026

Why is it that the people who knew Jesus best were also the ones who rejected him?

In Matthew 13, Jesus goes back to his hometown and the people who knew him as a child dismiss him completely. "Isn't this the carpenter's son? Where did he get all this?"

Stephen Willey, our writer this week, is a Methodist minister who has spent decades working in communities where people are regularly dismissed - where reputation, background and expectation can shut down what's actually possible.

He sees something in Jesus' rejection that speaks to every person who's ever been told: we know where you're from, and that's all we need to know.

Maybe the question is whether we're willing to be surprised by who God shows up in.

Free daily devotions: ibraglobal.org.uk

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