An old article I wrote in the fall of 2023.
“Brazos Fellows: A Unique Gift”
By Milyna Adriel
“Supersubstantial bread” was the term we discussed while reading Origen’s views on prayer. It also happened to be the phrase that brought much amusement and hearty laughter to a small class of Christian adults and teachers — otherwise known as the Brazos Fellows.
In August, I moved to Waco, Texas for a nine-month program called Brazos Fellows. The program is hosted out of a lovely, and vibrant parish named Christ Church Waco. Essentially, the program is nine months of intensive reading, fellowship, and study of the early church, theology, and Christianity on a small and large scale.
A rather unique find within Anglicanism, the Brazos Fellows program focuses on intentional community (life together) and personal edification, versus checking off boxes towards a certificate or degree plan. This was part of the appeal that led to requesting my application for Brazos Fellows. Living as a young adult Christian in a world where usefulness seems to be the end-all for acquiring any type of education, it doesn’t make sense to spend a year focusing on personal growth unless you can earn credits, or accumulate some sort of degree at the culmination of the program year. The Brazos Fellows program will not mail me, or any members of my cohort a paper certificate in May of 2024…but so far, that knowledge has been a wonderful thing. Freedom from grades, tests, quizzes, and assessments has enabled the cohort of people I’d now call friends the space to be vulnerable, authentic, and humble.
Within the unique structure of the Brazos Fellows program are several commitments. “Fellows” (as each member of the program is called) are invited to choose a topic or question of personal interest to study with a tutor for the duration of their time within the program. Spiritual disciplines also play a large part in each Fellow’s commitment, as they agree to meet together five out of seven days of the week to pray the Office of Morning Prayer. Additionally, vocational discernment and involvement in the life of the host parish, Christ Church, are both natural pieces of each Fellow’s experience. (Update 1/19/2026: I would like to add that the Fellows program no longer includes meeting with a tutor to study/research one topic, but instead, the program now offers a mentorship aspect for each Fellow.)
Having been a Fellow for nearly two months now, I can say that the program has pushed me to grow and think differently in ways that I’ve only begun to see glimpses of. We’ve welcomed several incredible guest speakers, and I believe that Fr. John Behr’s recent visit will have me meditating on how I read and perceive the Holy Scriptures for a good long while… It’s been two months filled with more grace, difficulty, and opportunities for growth than I could’ve ever imagined. My time as a Fellow so far has been a good gift.
Before the Fall term had started, I thought that what would impact me the most about Brazos Fellows would be the course of study or our class discussions. That’s not to say that we haven’t had some incredible theological conversations — we have! However, praying the Daily Office with each member of my cohort and with our program directors’ family (and their delightfully enthusiastic children) has brought about the most spiritual sustenance thus far. Simultaneously, keeping the commitment to daily prayer has been the most challenging. As a cradle Episcopalian/Anglican, I was fairly familiar with the Daily Office prior to my arrival in Waco. Still, I wasn’t accustomed to the continuity that is gained and held tightly within its regular practice in an active community with others. There’s value in it, I’m certain, even if I can’t quite pin down why or how that might always be.
Maybe it’s because, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” Matthew 18:20 (ESV).
I’ve thought almost daily about that passage of scripture. Each time, nearing the end of Morning Prayer when we offer intercessions and thanksgivings for others, it’s graceful to uplift not only my own loved ones to the Lord but also the prayers of each Fellow within our cohort. When their loved ones are ill, or mourning, I’ve found myself grieving alongside them in those brief moments of silence and petition to a God who hears us. When it finally rained after weeks of daily prayers asking God for showers of rain…we rejoiced in those moments of calm silence and thanksgiving.
The Brazos Fellows Program has been much more of an experience of life together than I had anticipated…and I’m so thankful. Each person within our cohort is so uniquely different from the others and it has simply meant a fullness of life together that I hadn’t imagined. It’s a Fellowship that is bound together not by a golden ring with an elvish inscription carved into it (as is common in Tolkien’s Middle-earth) but instead, we’re bound together by the common pursuit and experience of goodness, truth, and beauty. Yet, if you ask any Fellow within our cohort, “What exactly is Brazos Fellows?” they’d most likely have a difficult time answering. The Fellows program offers so much for each individual, and it’s hard to pick one definition for the overarching personal and spiritual growth taking place.
Still, somewhere in Waco, the most unlikely group of people are actively growing in their love of the Lord together and they’re leaning into the unknowns of the future in order to be present — these people are the Brazos Fellows.
If you’d like to know more about the Brazos Fellows program you can email info@brazosfellows.com, or go to the Brazos Fellows website at brazosfellows.com.
First published in the April 2024 issue of Forward in Christ Magazine.
— Milyna Adriel