About Five Aspects & ICGS
The “Five Aspects” Bible-teaching ministry arose from Bill and Barbara Mouser’s love and defense of biblical manhood and womanhood. From their college years in the 1970’s to present, the Mousers and their friends in the faith found the Bible’s teaching on sexuality under increasingly hostile attack. In 1991, they founded the International Council for Gender Studies (ICGS) – a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization – to publish and distribute curricula for use in churches, home Bible studies, and the mission field. These curricula are devoted to teaching the historic Christian faith to Christians in the Twenty-first Century; to revealing God’s good design of manhood and womanhood in a world where this design is obscured, distorted, and attacked; to presenting the dramatic and far-reaching theological implications of God’s creation of and use of man and woman in history.
We think that non-biblical tenets of religious feminists within the professing modern Church are not only corrosive to society, but also pose a threat to the spiritual vitality and integrity of the Church. Persuaded that God has spoken through the Prophets and Apostles in the Bible concerning human sexuality, we call Christians to reaffirm and to live anew the whole counsel of God as He has spoken concerning gender issues.
Five Aspects of Man and Five Aspects of Woman are the core Bible studies produced by ICGS and provide an in-depth, comprehensive examination of biblical manhood and womanhood, respectively. ICGS has also published a variety of other books and Bible studies of smaller scope or prepared for younger students. Additionally, Bill and Barbara Mouser periodically hold conferences or speak publicly.
ICGS materials are founded on biblical theology. Biblical theology may be defined as a through-the-Bible, Genesis-to-Revelation study method which seeks to follow the thoughts of God as He developed them chronologically through Scripture. Biblical theology may be distinguished from systematic theology which seeks to order topics logically and consistently according to subject matter, such as the study of God (theology proper), the study of salvation (soteriology), or the study of future things (eschatology). The Mousers employ systematic theology liberally, as its contribution is essential, but the overall frame of ICGS material is the biblical progression. Our hope is to lead students through the Scriptures such that they will see and build their convictions on the historical progression of God’s words and works.
In 2003, ICGS purchased a church property which it uses for its offices and for hosting conferences and teaching events. The sanctuary and fellowship hall are also rented to small congregations for worship. The Bible studies published by ICGS are printed for students using a print-on-demand service, Snowfall Press.