Best Biblically Responsible Investing Funds in 2026

The best biblically responsible funds in 2026 come from a handful of specialist families—Timothy Plan, Inspire, Eventide, Ave Maria, GuideStone, and Praxis—each screening out abortion, pornography, and other concerns while still chasing real returns. The right pick depends on your tradition, your tolerance for fees, and whether you prefer cheap ETFs or actively managed mutual funds. Here is how the major options actually compare.

Table of Contents

What makes a fund “biblically responsible”

A biblically responsible fund applies a faith-based screen on top of ordinary portfolio management. It excludes companies tied to abortion, pornography, predatory practices, and similar concerns, and some funds add a positive tilt toward businesses that treat people well. The category barely existed thirty years ago and now holds billions in assets. Before you shop for a specific fund, it helps to understand what biblically responsible investing is and the biblical principles that drive the screens, because the families below interpret those principles differently.

Inspire Investing

Inspire has become one of the fastest-growing names in the space by building low-cost ETFs around its proprietary Inspire Impact Score, a system that rates companies on how much good they do in the world rather than only what they avoid. Its flagship Inspire 100 ETF (BIBL) tracks 100 large-cap U.S. companies that score well on that methodology, with an expense ratio of roughly 0.35%—cheap by faith-fund standards and competitive with secular ETFs. For investors who want biblical screening without the higher fees of active management, Inspire is often the value pick. Our Inspire Investing review digs into the Impact Score in depth.

The Timothy Plan

The Timothy Plan is the elder statesman of the industry. When founder Art Ally launched it in 1994, dedicated Christian investment funds were a novelty; more than three decades later it offers a full lineup of mutual funds and ETFs built on time-tested biblical screening. Its exchange-traded options, including the Timothy Plan US Large/Mid Cap Core ETF (TPLC) and US Small Cap Core ETF (TPSC), brought its screens into lower-cost wrappers, while its mutual funds carry the higher expense ratios typical of active management. Timothy Plan appeals to investors who want a long track record and a no-compromise screening reputation, as our Timothy Plan review explains.

Eventide Funds

Eventide pitches “investing that makes the world rejoice,” pairing rigorous business-ethics analysis with growth-oriented active management. Its flagship Eventide Gilead Fund (ETGLX) offers broadly diversified equity exposure—the name nods to the biblical Gilead, a place of healing—while the Eventide Healthcare & Life Sciences Fund (ETAHX) concentrates on medical and biotech companies meeting its standards. As actively managed mutual funds, Eventide’s offerings carry higher expense ratios, often around 1% or more, which buys you concentrated, conviction-driven stock picking rather than index tracking. Read our Eventide review for the performance history and the tradeoffs of its focused approach.

Ave Maria Funds

Ave Maria is the leading Catholic values family, screening according to criteria informed by Catholic teaching—most prominently abortion and contraception, alongside concerns shared with evangelical funds. Its core Ave Maria Growth Fund (AVEGX) provides diversified equity exposure, while the Ave Maria Rising Dividend Fund (AVEDX) targets companies with growing dividends, a natural fit for retirees needing income. Expense ratios sit in the active-management range, roughly 0.7% to 0.9% depending on the fund. Even non-Catholic believers sometimes use Ave Maria because its pro-life screening is strict; our Ave Maria review covers where its criteria align with and differ from Protestant screens.

GuideStone Funds

GuideStone grew out of a mission to serve Protestant ministers, missionaries, and ministry workers, and that heritage shapes its approach. It emphasizes index-based strategies with biblical screening applied across the index, which keeps expense ratios low and lets more of your money compound rather than disappear into fees. GuideStone is a natural home for ministry professionals and anyone who wants broad, low-cost exposure with a screen attached. Our GuideStone Funds review walks through its fund lineup and how to access it.

Praxis Mutual Funds

Praxis brings the Anabaptist and Mennonite tradition to the table through its parent, Everence. That theological heritage emphasizes peace, justice, and community care, so while Praxis shares many common exclusions with other families, it sometimes lands on different holdings—leaning away from weapons and toward community development and impact bonds. For believers in the peace-church tradition, or anyone drawn to a stronger social-justice emphasis, Praxis is the distinctive option, as our Praxis review details.

Fund family	Tradition	Flagship (ticker)	Structure	Approx. expense ratio
Inspire	Evangelical, impact-focused	Inspire 100 ETF (BIBL)	ETF (index)	~0.35%
Timothy Plan	Evangelical, pioneer (1994)	Large/Mid Cap Core ETF (TPLC)	ETF + mutual funds	~0.5% ETF; ~1%+ funds
Eventide	Evangelical, growth-active	Gilead Fund (ETGLX)	Active mutual fund	~1%+
Ave Maria	Catholic values	Growth Fund (AVEGX)	Active mutual fund	~0.7%–0.9%
GuideStone	Protestant, ministry roots	Equity Index funds	Index mutual funds	Low (index-based)
Praxis	Anabaptist / Mennonite	Praxis Growth Index	Index + impact bonds	Moderate

Expense ratios shift over time and by share class, so treat these as ballpark figures as of early 2026 and confirm the current number on each fund’s fact sheet before you buy.

How these funds got cheaper and better

The early days of biblically responsible investing offered slim pickings—a few pricey mutual funds and a lot of do-it-yourself screening. Three shifts changed that. First, the ETF wrapper arrived, letting families like Inspire and Timothy Plan deliver biblical screens at a fraction of the old cost and with better tax efficiency. Second, screening data matured; where managers once relied on patchy disclosures, specialized research services now map company revenues to specific concerns, making screens more accurate and consistent. Third, competition grew, and as more Christian investors demanded faith-aligned options, fund families multiplied and fees came under pressure. The practical payoff is real diversification at a reasonable cost: you can now assemble a fully screened, globally diversified portfolio for an expense load that would have been unthinkable in the 1990s. The category still has gaps—bond and international options remain thinner than domestic equity, and the most rigorous active funds still charge a premium—but the distance between “responsible” and “affordable” has shrunk dramatically. For most believers the tradeoff that once felt steep, a clean conscience versus competitive returns, has largely dissolved, leaving the decision mostly about which family’s convictions and structure fit you best.

How to choose between them

Start with three questions. First, your tradition: Ave Maria suits Catholic investors, Praxis fits the peace-church tradition, and the rest sit comfortably in broad evangelical territory. Second, cost: if fees are your priority, index-style options from Inspire and GuideStone keep more of your return, while Eventide and the Ave Maria funds charge more for active stock picking that may or may not beat the market. Third, structure: ETFs like BIBL and TPLC trade like stocks, often have no minimum beyond one share, and are tax-efficient, whereas mutual funds may require $1,000 or more to start and can pass through more taxable gains. Match the screen to your convictions first, then let cost and structure break the tie. The difference between BRI, SRI, and ESG is worth reviewing if you are still deciding how strict a screen you want.

Building a complete BRI portfolio

No single fund is a portfolio. A sound approach uses asset allocation—your split between stocks and bonds, domestic and international, large and small—as the main driver of long-term results, then fills each slot with screened funds. A younger investor might hold mostly equity funds like BIBL or a Timothy Plan ETF, while someone near retirement leans on dividend and bond options such as AVEDX or a Praxis impact-bond fund. A common structure is a low-cost screened ETF as the core, with one or two active funds as satellites for areas you want extra conviction. Our guides to the best BRI ETFs and how to build a BRI portfolio walk through assembling the pieces.

Frequently asked questions

Are biblically responsible funds more expensive than regular funds? Often, but not always. Active BRI mutual funds from Eventide or Ave Maria can charge around 1%, well above a 0.03% index fund. But screened ETFs have closed much of that gap—Inspire’s BIBL runs near 0.35%—so cost-conscious investors have genuine low-fee options today.

Which biblically responsible fund is best for beginners? A low-cost, broadly diversified screened ETF is usually the simplest start—something like the Inspire 100 ETF (BIBL) or a Timothy Plan core ETF. They require little money to begin, trade like any stock, and give you instant diversification with a biblical screen already applied.

Do these funds sacrifice returns? Not reliably. Screening out a few categories from thousands of stocks creates tracking error, not a built-in penalty, and many BRI funds have performed in line with their benchmarks. The bigger drag on returns is usually the fund’s expense ratio, so compare fees as carefully as holdings.

Can I buy these funds in my 401(k) or IRA? IRAs give you the most freedom—most brokerages let you buy screened ETFs like BIBL or TPLC directly. Employer 401(k) plans are more limited; if no faith-based option is offered, you can ask your plan administrator to add one or hold screened funds in a separate IRA alongside your workplace plan.