Partner with Us.
We are Moving!
A generous patron has purchased an amazing building and is selling it back to us at an affordable rate. We couldn’t be more excited. Watch the video below to hear from our founder and President, Andrew Kern, as he explains the opportunities and immediate needs of this new space. Thank you!
Select “Building Fund” in the “Cause” section of the donation form. See below for an itemized list of upgrades we have already purchased and upcoming needs.
Want to hear more about the building, including a walkthrough? Watch an extended video below.
Donation Amount
Select Cause
- –Select Cause–
-
General Fund -
Building Fund
-
Apprenticeship Scholarship Fund
| Item | Charge |
|---|---|
| Donation | $NONE |
| Fees ( 3% ) | $NONE |
| Total | $No Charge |
Dear Friend of the CiRCE Institute,
For the past nine years the CiRCE Institute headquarters has been located in a building that we outgrew after the fourth year. We’ve made it work, and are thankful to God for the building, but it has had its limitations. It’s been hard for us to host classes or events, the kitchen is very small, most of the staff is sharing offices with multiple people, and we are unable to practice physical hospitality.
Until now . . . The CiRCE Institute is moving! We’re staying close to our hometown of Concord, NC —moving just a handful of miles out into the country. A generous patron has purchased a building (a log cabin) for us that they are then selling back to us at a rate that we can afford. The space is nearly 3x bigger than what we currently have and solves the problems listed above (plus more!) and also gives us space to dream about the future.
You have already contributed 30,000 to our building fund that will cover a large portion the following upgrades and fixes to the building. We are looking for an additional 10-15k to cover the remainder of the cost.
- The entire inside of the building is being repainted.
- The floors are being replaced
- Encroaching overgrown plants are being trimmed or removed
- Inspection issues are being fixed
- All new lighting is being installed
In addition to the immediate need of 10-15k we have identified further needs and upgrades that we are asking for your help with.
- Exterior rotten/broken log replacement and stain – 12-25k
- Kitchen Upgrade – 10-15k
- Back Door Fire Escape – 5k
- Water Filtration System – 3-6k
- Fire Suppression System – 10-15k
- Garage Door Replacement – 2-4k
- ADA Compliant Ramp – 3k
We are committed to four principles, each a matter of life and death: logocentrism, Christian humanism, piety, and coherence.
Logocentrism is the belief that Christ the Logos makes everything cohere. As St. Paul put it: All things hold together in Christ. He holds together human nature, which He assumed and perfected, and human society, which He entered and transformed. This is Christian humanism. The loss of Logocentrism has led to the abolition of man.
The loss of humanism, in turn, has undermined the respect due to our fathers and to our children, long known as piety. Now we abort and mutilate our children and we expose the nakedness of our fathers, just as Ham did Noah’s.
Without piety, humanity, and logocentrism, minds and communities become incoherent. Children become guinea pigs and data points. Schools are dominated by methods, rather than virtue. The creation is a meaningless machine.
That is why at CiRCE we are devoted to pursuing the best and purest form of Christian classical education. We believe it is whole, healing, and uniquely Christ-centered. It is also difficult. But it is our calling.
I am frequently accused of being a purist. In one sense I accept the charge. I won’t settle for anything less than the fulness of Christian classical education.
Yet I accept reality in all its brokenness and death, adjusting to the time and place in which we live. But I won’t adapt my faith to the faith of the age or stop working toward education made coherent by commitment to Christ the Logos, man the image, and piety.
I won’t give up the calling that drives the CiRCE Institute: to cultivate wisdom and virtue by nourishing souls on the true, the good, and the beautiful so that, in Christ, the student is better able to know, glorify, and enjoy God.
Any true reform in education has to begin with the teachers. Thus, we have prioritized equipping teachers and parents, making the teacher apprenticeship our first priority. Our leadership team bears witness to its value: all being graduates. Making the Apprenticeship first was certainly an unconventional approach, but we took the long view. The Apprenticeship is a foundation for what CiRCE plans, the runway. There is a great deal left to do.
So, with your help, we’re preparing to lift off.
If you had not supported our admittedly unusual approach, there would be no CiRCE Institute. We’re deeply grateful, both to you and to God.
Last year I told you we had launched an initiative to hire directors for the Consulting and Curriculum program areas. By God’s grace through your support, we filled those two director roles, and more: we were also able to add directors for the CiRCE Press, Conferences & Events, and Online Training!
Adding program area directors to our ongoing work has enabled us to:
- expand our 7-4-7 consulting offerings, both online and on-site: leadership coaching; building a Christian classical school or home; teacher development; and more!;
- revise and expand The Lost Tools of Writing,
- print new books from familiar names like David and Scot Hicks and Joshua Gibbs, as well as a volume of Arthurian tales. I will soon complete two offerings as well: a guide to the Christian classical curriculum and a guide to assessment;
- expand in-person and virtual conferences, including events for classical educators around the globe and homeschool-specific offerings;
- add online class offerings for students and online training for teachers,
- graduate four apprentices from the Latin Apprenticeship,
- renew our flagship podcast, Quiddity, and launch Overdue Classics, and
- make the FORMA Journal FREE to subscribers, quadrupling its readership.
On a very personal note, you enabled the CiRCE Press to surprise me with Liber Amicorum, a treasure trove of contemplations on education from my friends across the Christian classical renewal.
We are excited by the way our new directors work together when their roles overlap. For example, the curriculum, press, and apprenticeship program areas have initiated a combined project to develop language resources, Latin first and available soon!
Directors are negotiating international partnerships to make The Lost Tools of Writing and our books available in more languages and in more English-speaking countries.
If the pebbles in the Mississippi River were thanks, there would be too few to pay my debt of gratitude.
Thank you!
Any contribution you can make will help our ministries, but I’d like to mention a few things that are high priorities for which you may wish to earmark funds.
First, we continue to urgently search for a facility suited to hospitality, research, and teaching, not to mention housing the daily work of our staff! A better location has eluded us. Pray for us as we strive to trust in God’s timing and provision.
Second, we want to expand our scholarship offerings, especially for the apprenticeship. Participation in the apprenticeship opens possibilities that would not exist otherwise. A contribution to an apprenticeship scholarship is truly an investment.
Third, as I mentioned, FORMA is now free, as is our podcast network. If you have not subscribed to FORMA, please do. If you would like to contribute to FORMA or the CiRCE Podcast Network, please earmark a contribution to that end.
And finally, we have been searching for an affordable way to provide benefits, health care, and competitive wages to our hard-working staff.
Because you have shared in our calling, we are better able to keep our commitments and reap a shared harvest. In the past year, you contributed over $66,000. Thank you! Look at all the things you made possible in 2022!
Will you continue your support for 2023? You can do so in several ways, none greater than the first:
- pray! (we want and need to grow in wisdom and virtue)
- provide a one-time gift of any amount
- join our monthly giving program
- become a CiRCE Patron with a donation of $1,000 or more
- Call, email, or smoke signal to give even more as a Legacy Donor. You can donate at the form at the top of the page. If you prefer, you can mail a check to 81 McCachern Blvd SE, Concord NC 28025.
We pledge to continue to draw from what David Hicks called “springs to deep for taint”, and to share the living water of Christ the Logos.
In the CiRCE office, we return repeatedly to our commitments and beliefs, knowing they might cost us “seats” and that they sometimes make it harder to pay the bills. But we’ve seen what Christian classical education can do. It’s worth it. After all, it’s what we’re called to. Thank you for being a part of us
May the Lord remember you in His kingdom,
Andrew Kern
President
Donation Amount
Select Cause
- –Select Cause–
-
General Fund
-
Building Fund
-
Apprenticeship Scholarship Fund
| Item | Charge |
|---|---|
| Donation | $NONE |
| Fees ( 3% ) | $NONE |
| Total | $No Charge |