The Hive Q&A

• Q: What is The Hive? A: The Hive is an online wellness and spirituality community designed to help you grow in your faith–body, mind, and soul!
• Q: Who founded it? A: Hillary Raining founded The Hive after a meditation session.
• Q: Who is it for? A: Anyone who wants to grow in God!
• Q: How is it funded? A: The Hive received several grants from the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania, The Episcopal Church, and The United Thanks Offering, which have helped build the platform. The Membership Community gives a monthly membership fee for premium classes, and a Patreon group  receives special monthly meditations for their contributions. Thanks to our unique relationship with St. Christopher’s Church, we receive funding from the congregation and, in turn, offer scholarship opportunities for any congregation member who would like to be a part of The Hive.
• Q: Where does the funding go? A: Funding goes entirely to maintenance of the website, the site administrator, scholarships, and instructors, excluding Hillary Raining, who does not receive any compensation from The Hive.

Want to know more? Read the great article below written by a parishioner and it includes testimonials of people who had their hearts touched by The Hive.

What is The Hive?

www.thehiveapiary.com

What is The Hive?  We’ve all heard Hillary mention it many times, and seen mention of it in The Channel.  Is Hillary referring to the hive or hives she maintains at her home, or is she guiding us to something else?

It should surprise no one who knows Hillary, that she is instead engaged in realizing a very ambitious vision.  Inspired by the community of the hive of the honey bee, she has created a virtual hive that offers a virtual congregation to Christians seeking wellness and spirituality.  Hillary had the idea for The Hive several years ago after an intense meditation session.  She subsequently realized that the bee hive is an ancient symbol of Christianity, signifying a place where people develop a deep spiritual connection with God and Christ and each other.

The Hive’s growth has been supported by two major grants, one from the national church, which recognized its evangelical mission, and one from the United Thank Offering, targeted to support people and communities during the Covid epidemic.  These grants enabled Hillary to hire a “digital assistant,” who built and maintains the very attractive and growing website.

Starting last year, The Hive has also drawn financial support from a very modest monthly membership fee for most of its programs.  The Hive now has 70 members, attracted from publicity by the Diocese, grantees, and The Hive’s Facebook page, which has almost 2000 members.  (Scholarships and group rates are available.)

As Chair of The Hive, Hillary strives to foster a virtual congregation with deep spiritual connections.  She explains that part of her role is to counter much of the wellness and spiritual material on the internet that is in fact feeding junk food to people and calling it wellness.  As she has told us many times, she believes that Christianity is on the frontier of building a new spiritual community, something that has happened approximately every 500 years.  At the beginning of each cycle, a wisdom group pops up, she explains, mining the deepest chords of the faith while old practices die out.

Anyone who logs onto The Hive will find a rich offering of courses on spirituality, biblical history, healing, and, yes, yoga.  Our seminarian Kristen Ostendorf is currently leading a course titled “Living in Liminality, What The Epiphany Can Teach Us”.  In Lent, Hillary will lead a course titled “Transforming Trauma”, for those who have suffered trauma and want to find equilibrium and activate deep healing.  This past fall, Hillary asked me to co-lead a group titled “Good Grief, a Journey of Holy Mourning”.  Eight committed souls from across the Diocese joined us once a week for seven weeks to explore the process of grieving in a spiritual community.  All programs are available to members, those currently being offered, and recordings of those now completed, but some courses, such as “Living in Liminality”, are available everyone at no cost.

Hillary explains that St. Christopher’s Church is turning into a place where aspiring and ordained clergy can learn about digital ministry, or how to use the internet as a pulpit.  We are profoundly blessed to have this visionary leader among us.  I am sure we all want to offer her our gratitude and support.  —-Cathy Higgins

The Hive Testimonials:

I am so glad that I joined the Hive.  I am currently listening to the course, Living in Liminality with Kristen Ostendorf.  She is talking about the Epiphany season and winter and how it relates to what we are going through today with Covid.  I also listened to the Good Grief course.  It was incredible to watch.  I learned a lot about how different griefs can be similar and how you can be a support to those going through grief.  I am so impressed with the courses and what The Hive has to offer.

“The Hive…..A home for wellness, spirituality and growth.

Over the past year, The Hive has become more important to my Christian growth. Before this year, I would look at some of the content, but was pretty much just content giving kudos to Hillary as the founder of The Hive. During Lent 2021, I challenged myself to look into The Hive more deliberately. I got more familiar with the layout and rhythm of the website.

It was great to see contributors Hillary Raining, Callie Swanlund, Michelle Bullock, Phyllis Drackley, Kristen Ostendorf popping up with encouragement and strong content. Then, other presenters became important to check in on for their writings and videos. Funny thing happened…..the more I engaged with The Hive, the more things looked interesting to me. God definitely used the content as a growth opportunity for me. I still don’t take advantage of everything The Hive has to offer and I don’t think I ever will, but I’m glad I’ve gotten started. Please let me know if I can sit down and go through The Hive website with you and help get you looking into The Hive. Believe me, if it was daunting, I wouldn’t have done it!!!”

“The Hive has been a real presence in my faith journey. Since the Hive’s early days, I have learned an enormous amount from classes and discussions we’ve experienced, grown from the books we’ve read, mourned and celebrated significant events together. I’m grateful to be part of this community of faithful friends, both on the website and on Facebook. It has been vital to me during these past pandemic years. Thank you to Hillary for her inspired idea and to everyone involved in making the Hive all that it is.”

“As I recall my HIVE experiences, I immediately visualize a very large colorful Bee Hive … enclosing within unlimited opportunities and experiences.  Each topic I have explored I find has been an adventure and knowledge to my mind and body.

……challenging opportunities
……researching new interests
……experiencing talented authors and speakers

I am filled with gratitude to all who have created a healthy HIVE for our life enrichment.  Thank you Hillary and all who have shared their talent.”

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