faith250 is an opportunity for multifaith communities to come together in fellowship, meaningful conversation, and local rituals that celebrate our shared civic story. The program aims to seed clusters of congregations around the country that:
Engage members of various faiths to think about our shared values as Americans.
Enable clergy leaders to take on the role of caretakers of our civic health.
Give citizens the experience of spiritual and moral thinking and civic (vs. political) commitment.
Make the 250th a time of general civic renewal (vs. partisan division and animosity).
Form the basis of long-term collaborations between local institutions and leaders dedicated to our national future with pride, patriotism, empathy, and a desire for unity.
The program is unique in being clergy led and locally based. It utilizes key American texts as the basis of engaged discussion and culminates with a public celebration of America’s 250th sometime around July 4, 2026.
Every local community has its clergy and houses of worship which, through formal and informal networks, constitute an invisible civic backbone of society. Clergy of different faiths may disagree with points of theology and practice but recognize a common emphasis on elevating character and improving the world. Clergy can apply the deep wisdom and transcendent principles of their different faiths to unify their communities in shared civic values.
The program has three main components:
Relationships. We start with clergy-only conversations, dedicated time with colleagues to discuss the idea of celebrating the 250th together, and to try out the experience of studying four key American texts as civic “scripture”: “The New Colossus”, “America the Beautiful”, “The Declaration of Independence”, and “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Click here for more detailed guidance.
Not surprising, the biggest challenge will be scheduling. Right now: get a few meetings calendared as soon as you can. Some are making this the 2025-2026 agenda for their established local clergy group. Others are starting a new group. However you do this, talk about the four texts together before you bring them to your congregations.
Conversations about the texts will help clergy groups collectively rediscover America’s big ideas and narratives while inspiring patriotism through their beauty, ideas, and paradoxes. Through text study, we deepen trust in each other, talk honestly about our beliefs, and establish the holiness of our covenantal relationship.
Fellowship. Next, bring your congregations together for clergy-led multifaith gatherings to break bread, discuss the texts, and build fellowship, illustrating how an array of local institutions can form the basis of America’s positive civic health.
Some clergy groups study all four texts first and then invite their members to join in for larger gatherings. Others prefer a clergy study of each text immediately prior to the congregational gathering. You decide. Either way, we all know congregational calendars are packed, so schedule and promote these fellowship gatherings early, and consider standing up a lay team to do the logistics.
During these sessions, clergy will discuss how they want to adapt faith250 materials to suit their local communities and facilitation styles. Local ownership, collaboration, and creativity are key to the success of the congregational gatherings. Click here for more detailed guidance.
Ritual. And finally, plan and host a public civic ritual. From the congregational gatherings, establish a subgroup of clergy and engaged laity to start planning a public civic ritual for sometime around July 4th, 2026. Each cluster will create something unique – a mix of music, words, and activities that best communicates the vision of that group and speaks to local civic needs. This website will offer best practices for civic rituals, serve as a brainstorming hub, and a resource library (based on ideas uploaded by participating clergy). You will adapt, add, subtract, and fully design your ritual. There are not requirements. The planning will likely run concurrent with fellowship activities. Click here for more detailed guidance.
Hopefully, these experiences will spark a desire for ongoing fellowship, for greater exploration of our nation’s key documents, and for commitment that our institutions, leaders, and members will uplift local civic health. Some congregations may start or continue fellowship gatherings as an outgrowth of their public civic ritual. Experience tells us that citizens are hungry for experiences of deep and inspiring conversations about our shared American story with neighbors. faith250 grew out of American Scripture Project, which offers study materials for over 50 American texts (and counting) through our DafAmerica program.