Inspire 100 ETF (BIBL): The Index Approach to Biblical Investing

BIBL is the ticker that changed the conversation in Biblically Responsible Investing. Before Inspire launched its ETF lineup in 2017, BRI meant actively managed mutual funds with 1 percent plus expense ratios. BIBL brought the index fund approach into the space, cut fees to levels competitive with mainstream funds, and made BRI available to anyone with a Robinhood account.

Here is what the Inspire 100 ETF actually is, how it is constructed, what you get for your money, and where it fits.

The basics

Ticker: BIBL
Full name: Inspire 100 ETF
Launched: October 2017
Manager: Inspire Investing, founded by Robert Netzly
Expense ratio: 0.35 percent
Assets under management as of early 2026: roughly 400 million dollars
Underlying index: Inspire 100 Impact Index

The fund holds 100 US large-cap stocks that pass the Inspire Impact Score screen. It is a passive, rules-based index ETF rebalanced quarterly. Think of it as the S&P 500 filtered through a BRI methodology and cut down to the top 100 names that score well.

The Inspire Impact Score

This is Inspire's proprietary scoring system. They take a universe of public companies and assign each one an Impact Score based on a bunch of factors.

Negative factors (lower score): involvement in alcohol, tobacco, gambling, pornography, abortion, embryonic stem cell research, weapons of mass destruction, and advocacy or funding of LGBTQ causes that Inspire defines as outside biblical boundaries.

Positive factors (higher score): companies involved in areas Inspire treats as directly beneficial. Healthcare innovation, clean water, food and agriculture, education, affordable housing, and technology with positive application.

The scores run from deeply negative (worst) to deeply positive (best). Companies in BIBL generally need to clear a minimum threshold to be included at all, then the top 100 scorers are selected for the index.

Importantly, Inspire's methodology is fairly strict on LGBTQ advocacy and on content distribution. This is stricter than Eventide's Business 360 approach and roughly in line with Timothy Plan's screens. Inspire publishes its Impact Scores publicly, which means you can look up any major company and see what they scored.

What BIBL owns in 2026

The top holdings change quarterly as the index rebalances, but the fund has consistently held a mix of healthcare, industrial, consumer staples, and select technology names.

Names that have been in BIBL recently include Kimberly-Clark (KMB), Procter and Gamble (PG), Church and Dwight (CHD), Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM), Lockheed Martin (LMT), Raytheon Technologies, and several healthcare companies focused on medical devices and biotech.

Notable names not in BIBL: Microsoft (in and out depending on quarter, the content distribution through Xbox is a factor), Apple (excluded for App Store content and corporate giving), Amazon (excluded for content distribution and marketplace listings), Disney (excluded for content and advocacy), Meta (excluded for content moderation issues). Tesla sometimes in, sometimes out depending on the quarter.

This is where BIBL can feel different from a mainstream index. The Magnificent 7 stocks that drove most of the S&P 500's returns over the past few years are mostly absent from BIBL. When tech leads, BIBL trails. When value, healthcare, or industrials lead, BIBL keeps up or beats.

The performance story

BIBL has delivered about what you would expect from a strict BRI index fund in a tech-led market. It has tracked the S&P 500 with a noticeable gap during the major tech rallies and matched or outperformed during broad market corrections and value-led stretches.

2022 was a solid year for BIBL on a relative basis because tech sold off. 2023 was tough because the Magnificent 7 ran hard and BIBL missed the upside. 2024 and 2025 have been mixed, with BIBL roughly matching the broader market excluding tech but trailing the cap-weighted S&P 500.

Over the fund's full lifetime since 2017, BIBL has trailed the S&P 500 by a few percentage points annualized. That is a real gap. Not catastrophic, but real. For comparison, BIBL has roughly matched or slightly beaten equal-weighted S&P 500 indexes, which suggests the gap is mostly about the tech concentration in the cap-weighted benchmark rather than the BRI screens failing to find good stocks.

If you believe the tech concentration in the S&P 500 is a risk to be managed rather than a permanent feature to be loved, BIBL's relative performance looks better. If you think Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Alphabet will continue to drive markets, BIBL will continue to look like it is falling behind.

The Inspire ETF family

BIBL is the flagship but Inspire runs a full suite of ETFs now.

RISN: Inspire International ETF, international large caps with Impact Score screens. Expense ratio around 0.5 percent.

WWJD: Inspire Small Mid Cap Impact ETF. Small and midcap names that score well. Expense ratio around 0.6 percent. Yes, the ticker is "WWJD."

IBUY: Inspire Faithward Large Cap Momentum ETF. Focused on large caps with momentum characteristics.

ISMD: Inspire Small Cap Impact ETF. Focused purely on small caps.

FEVR: Inspire Faithward Mid Cap Momentum ETF.

Plus a few fixed income products and newer launches.

Expense ratios across the Inspire lineup are higher than BIBL's 0.35 percent, but they are still competitive with other active and specialty ETFs.

How BIBL compares to other BRI options

BIBL versus ETGLX. BIBL is passive, ETGLX is active. BIBL is cheaper. ETGLX has a more flexible framework through Business 360 and can be more selective. For most investors, BIBL is the simpler choice.

BIBL versus Timothy Plan ETFs. Timothy Plan TPLC is their large-cap ETF. Methodologies overlap significantly, with both being strict on LGBTQ and content issues. Expense ratios are similar. Performance is broadly similar. You can own both without much doubling up, but most investors pick one.

BIBL versus GuideStone funds. GuideStone is actively managed mutual funds with more moderate screens. It is a different approach. If you want strict screens with low fees, BIBL wins. If you want moderate screens with active management, GuideStone makes sense.

The FaithShares question

Worth noting: in the 2010s, there was a short-lived set of BRI ETFs called FaithShares. They launched, struggled to gather assets, and closed down. BIBL learned from the FaithShares failure and was structured to be simpler and more marketable. BIBL's survival and growth demonstrates that a well-designed BRI ETF can work in the marketplace. FaithShares proved that it was not automatic.

Who should buy BIBL

If you want a single ETF that handles most of your BRI concerns for your large-cap US equity allocation, BIBL is a reasonable choice. It is cheap, it is transparent, it is strict on the screens most BRI investors care about, and it trades like any other ETF.

If you are building a more sophisticated portfolio, you might pair BIBL with RISN for international, WWJD or ISMD for small caps, and maybe a separate fixed income product for bonds. The Inspire family can handle a full portfolio if you want to keep it simple.

If you hate giving up the tech concentration, BIBL is going to frustrate you in years when tech rips. This is worth being honest with yourself about. BIBL is not the fund for you if every time Apple goes up 30 percent you wish you owned it.

The biblical framing Inspire uses

Robert Netzly, Inspire's founder, writes frequently about his belief that "investing is worship" and that every dollar is either building the Kingdom or working against it. That is a hot take, and some Christians find it overstated, but it captures the seriousness with which Inspire treats the work.

The verses that appear most in Inspire's marketing are Matthew 6:24 ("no one can serve two masters"), Proverbs 22:7 ("the borrower is slave to the lender"), and Genesis 1:28 on creation stewardship. Plus the Great Commission, Matthew 28:19-20, as the framing for investing in companies with positive impact on human flourishing.

This is different from Eventide's more academic "Business 360" framing. Inspire is more explicitly evangelical and more explicitly mission-oriented. The fund company itself positions as Christian ministry with a financial product attached, not the other way around.

The bottom line

BIBL is the easiest BRI ETF to own. Low expense ratio, transparent methodology, strict screens that handle most BRI concerns, and liquidity in the secondary market that means you can buy and sell it without friction. For a new BRI investor, it is probably where I would start.

Will it beat the S&P 500 every year? No. Has it beaten the S&P 500 over its life? No. Does it deliver a legitimate large-cap US equity exposure with biblical screens for a reasonable fee? Yes.

If you can accept those tradeoffs, BIBL is a solid core holding. Matthew 16:26 asks, "What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" BIBL is one attempt at refusing the whole world in exchange for a better alignment between your portfolio and your faith. Imperfect, but honest.

Go look at the current holdings on Inspire's site and see if the stocks line up with what you expected. That is the best way to decide if BIBL is the right fit for you.