BICS Community Ethos

Community

The community values of the Institute begin at enrollment and extend into the circle of alumni who maintain the BICS ethos in memory and practice. Graduates of the Institute share in the common thread of life changing experiences that permeate the program–classroom and in-service learning, travel in the Bible lands, ministry team venues, field trips, life in the residences, informal relationships with staff and teachers, worship in the family of God and so much more. While each class bonds in unique ways, that same group also enters into the common life of those who have profited from the BICS program in the past. The Institute thinks of it graduates as an expanding family of friends and fellow servants in the work of the ministry.

Personal and Social Expectations

The Institute provides the opportunity to experience “Christian discipleship within a caring community.” Physical, intellectual, psychological, social, and spiritual growth mark the advance in Christian maturity in the power of the Spirit. In a community setting personal life style preferences sometimes need to be surrenderd for the sake of the whole. The standards of The Berkshire Institute for Christian Studies include disapproval of certain practices generally agreed upon by evangelical Christians as dampening or quenching spiritual growth. Elaboration on these standards will be found in The Student Handbook (available upon request).