Editing The Order of Christ Sophia (section)

==History==
Mother Clare Watts was raised by missionary parents in Zurich, Switzerland. She lived in yoga ashrams and a Sufi training school along with her husband and children before beginning her training with Father Peter Bowes, with whom she later co-founded the OCS. While living in Kentucky she was ordained a Deacon in 1984 in a mystical Christian order called the Brotherhood of Christ. Though she had been baptized by sisters in the Holy order of mans in 1977, she was never a member of that organization. She and her family moved to Boston in 1985 in order to receive further spiritual training by Master John Hartman. Master John was ordained in the Brotherhood of Christ and continued to teach after the Brotherhood’s dissolution. Watts trained for the priesthood with Master John but was not ordained until 1996 when she reconnected with Bowes, who trained Watts further and brought her into ordination himself. After her ordination, Watts focused her teachings on the spiritual empowerment of women until 1999, when she joined her growing spiritual center to Bowes’ to create the Order of Christ Sophia. In 2001 Bowes ordained Watts a Master Teacher, and the two shared co-directorship of the new order.<ref>Mother Clare Watts, ''Giving Birth to God: A Woman's Path to Enlightenment'': iUniverse Inc., New York, NY, 2003. {{ISBN|0-595-28337-3}}</ref>

The OCS called their spiritual centers Centers of Light and started such centers in numerous cities across the United States.

Growing rifts between Bowes and Watts regarding ideology and methods of teaching led Bowes to leave the OCS in 2012. He immediately formed a new order called the Ruach Center. About half of the membership and ministers of the former OCS left with the Ruach Center, while other half remained with the OCS. The Ruach Center continues their practices through a less widely marketed congregation, while Watts and the Centers of Light continue to practice and advertise publicly, offering classes and services in Seattle, Minneapolis, Ann Arbor, Cambridge (Massachusetts), New Haven, Denver, Santa Fe and Montreal, Canada. The OCS states that their leadership has since become more inclusive, egalitarian, ecumenical, accepting and embracing of individual choices and all religions and spiritual paths that are based in love and light. The ministers no longer wear clerical garb except for Sunday Services and clothing choices are free and open. Collaborative events and classes are given with other spiritual organizations.