BIC Archives - Contents and Containers

Essays August 6, 2014June 9, 2021

The Brethren in Christ’s greatest strength is also their greatest shortcoming

An excerpt of a paper I wrote about BIC history, based on The Quest for Piety and Obedience by Carlton Wittlinger. The Brethren in Christ, in their […] Read More

Essays July 25, 2014June 9, 2021

The problem with essentializing the Brethren in Christ’s Core Values

This is a first draft of an essay I wrote for the BIC Core Course on History and Values. What the most important Brethren in […] Read More

What’s with the categories? They’re all loosely based on Circle of Hope’s idea of spiritual development, utilizing the elements to represent cyclical stages of our growth in Jesus. The posts land somewhere in one of those growth cycles, but are certainly for everyone to read. Following Jesus develops like all human development. At Circle of Hope we see ourselves moving from earth to wind to fire to water in an ongoing, organic process of receiving and enjoying our new, true selves in Jesus.

Earth: Planting seeds of faith and helping them sprout.

Wind: Taking first steps of life in the Spirit.

Fire: Accepting the gifts we bring to a community and our purpose, and learning to give them.

Water: Deepening experience of transformation.