Praxis Mutual Funds offers something genuinely different in the faith-based investing landscape: an investment approach rooted in the Anabaptist tradition—the theological heritage of Mennonites, Amish, and Brethren communities—with a distinctive emphasis on peace, community development, and environmental stewardship. Managed by Everence Financial, a financial services organization serving the Anabaptist community since 1945, Praxis combines values-based screening with active shareholder engagement and a commitment to directing a portion of every fund’s assets toward community development investments in underserved communities. With over $1.2 billion in mutual fund assets and Everence managing more than $3 billion in total assets, Praxis represents a mature, mission-driven investment approach that predates the current wave of faith-based investing by decades.
Company History and Anabaptist Roots
The story of Praxis begins not in 2024 or even 1994, but in 1945, when Mennonite Mutual Aid (MMA) was founded to provide financial services to Anabaptist communities. The organization recognized that Mennonite, Amish, and Brethren families needed insurance, banking, and investment products that reflected their distinctive values—particularly their commitment to peace, community, simplicity, and mutual aid. In 2012, MMA rebranded as Everence Financial, though the Anabaptist mission and community ownership structure remained unchanged.
Praxis Mutual Funds launched in 1994, making it one of the earliest faith-based fund families alongside Timothy Plan. The name “Praxis” comes from the Greek word meaning “practice” or “action”—reflecting the Anabaptist conviction that faith must be expressed through practical action in the world, not merely through belief or doctrine. This emphasis on faith-in-action shapes every aspect of Praxis’s investment approach, from screening methodology to shareholder engagement to community development investing.
Everence itself is structured as a ministry of Mennonite Church USA and several other Anabaptist denominations. This ecclesiastical connection means Praxis is accountable to a faith community in a way that purely commercial investment firms are not. The organization’s board, leadership, and strategic priorities are shaped by Anabaptist theological commitments—creating an investment approach that reflects a specific tradition’s understanding of faithful stewardship rather than a generic “Christian values” framework.
In 2023, Everence was named Faith-Based Organization of the Year, recognition that validated the organization’s decades-long commitment to integrating faith and finance. The Praxis Mutual Funds celebrated 30 years of stewardship investing in 2024, a milestone that underscores the fund family’s institutional stability and long-term commitment to its mission.
Stewardship Investing Methodology
Praxis describes its investment approach as “stewardship investing”—a comprehensive framework that integrates three complementary strategies: values-based screening (both negative and positive), active shareholder engagement, and community development investing. This three-pronged approach distinguishes Praxis from providers that rely solely on exclusionary screening.
The screening component reflects Anabaptist theological priorities, which differ in important ways from evangelical BRI screening. The most distinctive screen is the peace and nonviolence filter: Praxis excludes companies that manufacture weapons, weapon systems, or military equipment. This reflects the Anabaptist tradition’s deep commitment to nonviolence and pacifism—a theological position that most evangelical BRI providers do not share. While Timothy Plan and Inspire may exclude certain weapons manufacturers, the Anabaptist peace witness gives this screen a theological weight and comprehensiveness that goes beyond what most other faith-based providers apply.
Additional screens address environmental stewardship, excluding companies with the worst environmental practices and those that demonstrate disregard for creation care. Labor and human rights screens exclude companies with documented patterns of worker exploitation, child labor, or human rights violations. The fund family also screens for alcohol, tobacco, gambling, and pornography—though the specific thresholds and applications may differ from evangelical providers given the Anabaptist tradition’s distinctive approach to these issues.
Beyond negative screening, Praxis applies positive selection criteria, favoring companies that demonstrate strong environmental practices, fair labor relations, community investment, and ethical governance. This positive screening dimension aligns Praxis more closely with Eventide’s “embrace” philosophy than with the purely exclusionary approach of Timothy Plan.
Community Development Investing
Perhaps the most distinctive feature of Praxis Mutual Funds is the Community Development Investing (CDI) program. Praxis allocates approximately 1% of each fund’s assets to community development investments—loans and investments directed to Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and other organizations serving underserved communities. As of recent reporting, Praxis has directed approximately $25.8 million to community development investments.
These investments fund affordable housing construction and rehabilitation, small business development in low-income communities, microenterprise lending, community facilities including healthcare clinics and childcare centers, and economic development in historically underinvested areas. The CDI program means that every dollar invested in a Praxis fund is doing double duty: the vast majority is invested in publicly traded securities screened for values alignment, while a portion is simultaneously deployed to create tangible economic opportunity in communities that need it most.
This approach reflects the Anabaptist commitment to mutual aid and community—the conviction that financial resources should serve the common good, not merely generate individual wealth. For investors who want their money to have a measurable, direct impact on underserved communities in addition to providing market returns, the CDI program makes Praxis unique among faith-based fund providers.
Praxis publishes Real Impact Reports documenting the measurable outcomes of its CDI investments, providing transparency about how community development dollars are deployed and what they accomplish. This impact reporting responds to the growing investor demand for evidence that values-based investing produces tangible results beyond portfolio screening.
Shareholder Engagement
Praxis takes an active approach to shareholder engagement, using its ownership position to advocate for corporate practices aligned with its values. This includes filing and co-filing shareholder resolutions on environmental, social, and governance issues; engaging directly with corporate management teams on matters of concern; exercising proxy voting rights in alignment with stewardship investing principles; and collaborating with other faith-based and values-driven investors through organizations like the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR).
The engagement approach reflects the Anabaptist tradition’s emphasis on dialogue and constructive witness rather than confrontation. Praxis views shareholder engagement not as adversarial activism but as faithful stewardship of ownership responsibility—using the influence that comes with ownership to encourage companies toward more just and sustainable practices.
Complete Fund Lineup
Praxis Growth Index Fund (MGNDX). This index fund provides broad U.S. growth equity exposure with stewardship investing screens applied. As an index fund, it offers lower costs than actively managed alternatives while still incorporating Praxis’s values-based screening and community development allocation. The index approach appeals to investors who want stewardship investing with the cost efficiency and broad diversification of passive management.
Praxis Value Index Fund (MVIAX/MVIIX). The value counterpart provides U.S. value equity exposure through an indexed approach with stewardship screens. Available in multiple share classes, the fund targets undervalued companies that meet Praxis’s screening criteria while maintaining the low-cost structure of index investing.
Praxis Small Cap Index Fund (MMSCX). For investors seeking small-cap exposure with stewardship investing principles, this index fund provides diversified small-company equity with Praxis’s screening and community development allocation. Small-cap indexing with faith-based screening is relatively rare, making this a distinctive offering.
Praxis International Index Fund (MPIAX). The international fund provides non-U.S. equity exposure with stewardship investing screens applied to international companies. This fund addresses the challenge of applying values-based screening across different markets, regulatory environments, and disclosure standards.
Praxis Impact Bond Fund (MIIAX). The fixed income offering provides intermediate-term bond exposure with stewardship screening applied to bond issuers. The fund allocates a portion of assets to community development investments, making the CDI program particularly relevant in the fixed income context where direct community lending aligns naturally with the bond fund structure.
Praxis Genesis Portfolios. These asset allocation funds provide one-fund solutions at three risk levels: Conservative (MCONX), Balanced (MBAPX), and Growth (MGAFX). Each Genesis portfolio invests in underlying Praxis funds, providing automatic diversification and rebalancing with stewardship investing principles throughout. The Genesis portfolios are ideal for investors who want a complete, values-aligned portfolio in a single fund without the complexity of choosing and rebalancing individual fund holdings.
Recent Developments: ETF Launch
In 2025, Praxis launched its first exchange-traded fund, responding to the industry-wide shift toward ETF structures. The ETF attracted approximately $100 million in assets within its first five months—an impressive launch that suggests strong demand for Praxis’s stewardship investing approach in the more accessible, lower-cost ETF format. This expansion demonstrates that Praxis is adapting to evolving investor preferences while maintaining its distinctive Anabaptist values framework.
How Anabaptist Values Shape Praxis
Understanding the Anabaptist theological tradition is essential for appreciating what makes Praxis distinctive. Several Anabaptist commitments directly shape the fund family’s investment approach in ways that differ from evangelical BRI providers.
The peace witness is the most obvious differentiator. Anabaptist Christians have historically practiced nonviolence and conscientious objection to military service, dating back to the tradition’s origins in the 16th-century Radical Reformation. This commitment translates directly into Praxis’s weapons and military screening—screens that carry theological weight beyond mere corporate social responsibility. For Anabaptist investors, holding shares in a weapons manufacturer would be morally equivalent to participating in violence, making this screen non-negotiable in a way that casual ESG investors might not appreciate.
The mutual aid tradition shapes the Community Development Investing program. Anabaptist communities have historically practiced economic sharing and mutual support—barn raisings, shared resources, and community funds for members in need. The CDI program extends this mutual aid ethic beyond the Anabaptist community to serve underinvested communities across the country. It reflects the conviction that wealth should flow toward those who need it most, not merely accumulate among those who already have it.
The simplicity ethic influences Praxis’s approach to consumerism and corporate excess. While this doesn’t translate into specific fund screens, it shapes the overall investment philosophy—a preference for companies that create genuine value over those that profit primarily from manufactured demand, planned obsolescence, or exploitative consumption patterns.
The community emphasis means Praxis is ultimately accountable to a faith community rather than to shareholders or a corporate board. Everence’s denominational structure ensures that investment decisions reflect communal discernment rather than individual profit maximization—an accountability structure unique among major faith-based investment providers.
Strengths and Advantages
Community Development Investing. No other faith-based fund provider directs a portion of every fund’s assets to community development investments. The CDI program gives Praxis investors measurable, direct impact on underserved communities—not just portfolio screening, but actual capital deployed for community benefit.
Comprehensive stewardship approach. The three-pronged strategy of screening, engagement, and community investing creates a more complete expression of faith-based investing than screening alone. Praxis doesn’t just avoid harm; it actively pursues good through shareholder advocacy and community investment.
Peace and nonviolence screening. For investors in the Anabaptist tradition—or any Christian tradition that takes nonviolence seriously—Praxis’s weapons screening carries theological significance that no other major faith-based provider matches.
Index fund structure. By offering index funds rather than exclusively actively managed products, Praxis provides stewardship investing at lower cost than many faith-based competitors. Index funds also offer broad diversification and transparent, rules-based portfolio construction.
30-year track record. Three decades of continuous operation demonstrates institutional stability and long-term commitment to the stewardship investing mission.
Impact reporting. Real Impact Reports provide documented evidence of the CDI program’s community outcomes, giving investors visibility into the tangible results of their investment.
Limitations and Considerations
Anabaptist-specific orientation. Praxis’s theological foundation in the Anabaptist tradition means its screening priorities may not perfectly align with investors from other Christian traditions. The strong peace witness and weapons screening, while theologically grounded for Anabaptists, may not reflect the views of evangelicals who hold different positions on military service and national defense.
Smaller asset base. At approximately $1.2 billion in mutual fund assets, Praxis is significantly smaller than competitors like GuideStone ($23 billion), Eventide ($6.4 billion), or Ave Maria ($3.8 billion). Smaller scale can mean less negotiating power with service providers and potentially higher relative operating costs.
Limited fund variety. Compared to Timothy Plan’s dozen-plus funds or Eventide’s expanding lineup, Praxis offers a more streamlined set of options. Investors seeking specialized strategies (healthcare, technology, Israel-focused) won’t find them at Praxis.
No advisory services. Praxis does not offer separately managed accounts or comprehensive financial advisory services through the fund family itself, though Everence provides broader financial planning services to its community.
CDI allocation impact on returns. While the 1% CDI allocation is small, community development investments typically generate below-market returns. Over long time periods, this modest drag could compound, though the social impact may more than compensate for any performance difference in the eyes of mission-aligned investors.
Who Should Consider Praxis
Praxis is the natural choice for Mennonite, Amish, and Brethren investors who want investments aligned with their Anabaptist heritage. It is also well-suited for peace-committed Christians from any tradition who want their investments to reflect nonviolent values, investors who prioritize community development and want their money to create direct economic opportunity in underserved areas, environmentally conscious Christian investors who value creation care alongside biblical screening, and investors who prefer index fund structures with stewardship investing principles.
Praxis may not be the best fit for investors who support military and defense industries or disagree with blanket weapons exclusions, those seeking the lowest possible expense ratios (consider Inspire’s PTL at 0.09%), Catholic investors wanting denomination-specific screening (consider Ave Maria), investors seeking comprehensive retirement plan services (consider GuideStone), or those who want actively managed, high-conviction stock selection (consider Eventide).
The Bottom Line
Praxis Mutual Funds represents one of the most thoughtful and comprehensive approaches to faith-based investing available today. The combination of values-based screening, active shareholder engagement, and community development investing creates a genuinely distinctive investment platform that goes beyond what most faith-based providers offer. The Anabaptist theological foundation provides intellectual depth and historical rootedness that distinguishes Praxis from generic “Christian values” products.
For investors who resonate with the Anabaptist emphasis on peace, community, and practical faith—or for any Christian investor who wants their portfolio to include direct community development impact alongside values-based screening—Praxis deserves serious consideration. The fund family’s 30-year track record, recent ETF expansion, and Everence’s institutional stability provide a solid foundation for long-term stewardship investing.
As with all investment decisions, Praxis should be evaluated as one component of a broader stewardship approach—including budgeting, debt management, generous giving, and the conviction that how we invest our money is an expression of what we believe about God, community, and our responsibility to one another.