The first step in the faith250 journey belongs to the clergy. Before your congregations come together, the clergy of your cluster meet — just among yourselves — to build relationships, deepen trust, explore four key American texts and consider gathering your congregations around those texts.
This is not an academic exercise. It is a moral and spiritual one. As you read and discuss these texts together, you will be asking: What do these words mean to me? What do they mean for our faith communities? What do they mean for us as Americans?
Why Start with Clergy?
Clergy bring something distinctive to civic life. They may hold different theologies and traditions, but they share a common calling: to elevate character and help their communities navigate the world with wisdom and care. When clergy study together, they model the kind of trust and honest conversation they hope their congregants will experience.
The clergy meetings are where that foundation is built. They are also where clergy prepare to facilitate the multifaith events that follow — gaining confidence with the texts and discovering how their own traditions speak to America's founding ideas.
See the clergy meetings guide for a sample email for recruiting clergy colleagues, a suggested agenda for meetings and best practices.
Clergy Meetings and the Four Texts
The faith250 program centers the clergy meetings on four foundational American texts. We believe these texts hold America's promises, its beauty, its contradictions, and its unfinished work.
The New Colossus -- Emma Lazarus's poem inscribed at the base of the Statue of Liberty
The Declaration of Independence -- the founding statement of American ideals and purpose
America the Beautiful -- all verses of the beloved hymn to the American landscape and spirit
What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? -- Frederick Douglass's 1852 address, a profound challenge to America to live up to its own ideals
Each text is paired with a clergy meeting discussion guide. All materials can and should be adapted to your group's needs and style.
How the Conversations Work
There is no single required format. Some clergy groups study all four texts before bringing their congregations together. Others study one text, then hold a multifaith event, then study the next. You decide what works best for your cluster.
A typical clergy meeting might include a reading of the text aloud, quiet reflection, and guided discussion drawing on each participant's faith tradition and personal experience. The goal is not consensus but honest conversation — the kind of exchange that builds trust and deepens understanding across difference. Refer to the clergy meeting guide for examples and suggestions. We have also prepared a covenant for conversation to assist in keeping conversations productive and generative.
These conversations work best when held in person, in a house of worship or shared sacred space, with time set aside as a form of sacred practice (i.e., put your phones away). faith250 recommends treating them with the same intentionality you bring to Scripture study within your own tradition.
Getting Started
Review the clergy meeting guide and discussion guides.
Decide as a group whether to study all four texts first or to alternate clergy and congregational sessions.
Schedule your first meeting — and the rest — as early as possible.
Consider what materials or hospitality will help your clergy group feel at ease: a simple meal, a brief opening prayer or meditation, or a reading aloud before discussion begins.
Let us know how the first meeting goes!