[1][2] As a parachurch apostolate, membership is open to any baptized Christian who affirms the Nicene Creed and agrees to the community's covenant.

[3] The founding of People of Praise by Kevin Ranaghan and Paul DeCelles in 1971 in South Bend, Indiana, while the two were graduate students,[4] was an early and important event within the history of the overall covenant community movement.

Various individuals who participated in its founding had attended Cursillo movement retreats,[5] including another graduate student, Stephen B. Clark (who came to author Building Christian Communities in 1972).

After Bill Storey visited from Duquesne University in 1967, elements from out of as well the burgeoning Catholic charismatic renewal of the times, were incorporated into these meetings.

However, members of the same household needed to live close enough to each other to share meals, prayer times and other forms of fellowship.

Until 1990, the South Bend community was the headquarters for the National Service Committee (a coordinating body for the various Catholic charismatic groups).

It was also the headquarters of the Charismatic Renewal Services (a national distribution center for religious books and tapes) and published a magazine called New Heaven, New Earth.

[21] Members also served with Cardinal Josef Suenens in drafting of Malines Documents I and II,[22] and with Father Kilian McDonnell, in the writing of Fanning the Flame.

In the wake of heightened interest in the group and its members following her nomination, People of Praise removed some materials from its website: "Recent changes to our website were made in consultation with members and nonmembers from around the country who raised concerns about their and their families' privacy due to heightened media attention.

"[31] Members of the People of Praise engage in weekly meetings that include religious teaching, Scripture readings, witnessing, and prayer for those with needs.

[32] Anthropologist Thomas Csordas has written that People of Praise is theologically conservative with a hierarchical leadership structure, but it is also influenced by the communitarianism of the 1960s counterculture.

The community considers the covenant, when entered into among members, to be one of mutual care and service in spiritual, material, and financial matters.

We agree to be a basic Christian community, to find within our fellowship the essential core of our life in the spirit, in worship and the sacraments, spiritual and moral guidance, service, and apostolic activity.

[36] Spiritual direction is an important part of People of Praise intentional community, which takes the form of headships or lay-pastoral counselling; according to anthropologist Thomas Csordas, "individual members are supervised in their daily lives by a person regarded as more 'spiritually mature.

[citation needed] People of Praise uses the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola as a basis for counsel and discernment.

[30] According to Sean Connolly, communications director for People of Praise, functions of lay-pastoral counsellors and prayer meeting leaders within the community are not authoritarian in nature: "Freedom of conscience is a key to our diversity.

People of Praise members are always free to follow their consciences, as formed by the light of reason, experience, and the teachings of their churches.

The purpose is to build deeper relationships as brothers and sisters in Christ by discussing their lives and other issues with the goal of gaining wisdom, deepening friendships, and encouraging one another to be faithful to God.

Traditional roles are reinforced by encouraging men to do most of the heavier physical work involved when a family is moving to a new home or re-roofing a house, and when setting up for meetings and similar tasks.

Members who disclose such activity are expelled from the organization, and children of same-gender parents are not allowed into the group's schools.

Members of the Campus Division consider their common life together to be part of what the People of Praise has labeled as to its city-building work.

[citation needed] According to the organisation's website, the Action Division consists of high school students and adults working together "to bring Christ's love to impoverished communities in real and tangible ways.

"[46] At this point, their work primarily involves outreach in a poor neighborhood called Allendale in the city of Shreveport, Louisiana.

While the schools operate as an independent nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, the goals and procedures are influenced by the approach of the People of Praise.

"[50] Students take 5 semesters of scriptural studies (through an ecumenical Christian approach) and either a Catholic or Protestant doctrine course.

Trinity Schools maintain small classes with single-sex instruction except in a few key courses such as drama, art, and foreign languages.

[52] There are three locations: The Brotherhood of the People of Praise is a private association of the Christian faithful with official status in the Catholic Church.

[54][55] Ralph Martin, the president of Renewal Ministries, who previously managed the 'association of covenant communities' alongside People of Praise leadership,[56] stated in the National Catholic Register that People of Praise is "part of the papally-approved mainstream of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, which has been encouraged by every pope since Vatican II, none more strongly than Pope Francis.

[25][61] After the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, many articles from mainstream press referred to the People of Praise as a cult.

(Kuehl's family at the time belonged to Servants of the Lord, a covenant community that later merged with People of Praise.)