“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language. And next year’s words await another voice.” — T.S. Eliot

T.S. Eliot’s words remind us that as the year—and decade—changes, it’s a time for each of us to leave some words behind and find another voice.

The voice of IPM has been counter-cultural since our founding. Accompaniment, Hope, Partnership, Solidarity, and Trust aren’t necessarily words the peoples of the colonized world historically associated with “mission.” Our founders new the world and the work of mission needed to change. They envisioned a small organization that acknowledged the Divine Spirit within all of us while nurturing partnerships that ensured the inherent human dignity so often denied. Admitting that we had much more to learn than we could ever offer from our material abundance, was a completely radical idea that resonate even more powerfully today.

Together with your support, IPM developed its own language, giving life and substance to terms that have more recently been co-opted in the corporate and political realms. But partnership is more than how one relates to their personal banker. Solidarity is about radical change that few political leaders have the stomach for.

Here on the dawn of a new decade, our Partners continue to give voice to the voiceless and our eyes remain keenly focused on IPM’s 50^th Anniversary to come!  IPM—a small but mighty organization that is rooted in our Partners’ language and accompanying them where they lead.

A new voice grounded in the same core values IPM espoused in 1974. Another voice that nurtures the love we have for one another. The language of justice, peace, and hope, that are the greatest gifts we can offer each other in the coming New Year.

Happy 2020, Joe