American Scripture Project is a collaborative community. We use this Substack to share materials developed by the team at Northern Virginia Hebrew Congregation and by partners around the country, all vetted by clergy colleagues like yourself.
Our theory of change is that when enough American clergy introduce the practice of exploring our national narratives spiritually with their congregations, this practice will help drain our political spaces of the anxiety, contempt, resentment, and cynicism that have turned our rhetoric toxic. Therefore, this is less a set curriculum or static document collection of resources than it is an on-ramp to a methodology.
The journey begins with our introductory documents and video training sessions. While American Scripture Project can be started at any time, we offer a cohort experience which can help facilitators learn the ropes and adapt the materials for each community.
All training materials and the individual document session materials can be found in the Facilitator Hub, which is behind our paywall (Session 1 is open to everyone as an example). Session materials include a 5-7 minute “how to” facilitation overview video, a “how to” facilitator guide with handouts, and a downloadable handout in editable format for you to modify for use with your congregants. We will also upload a recording of the prior monthly office hour Zoom calls for each session after it occurs.
We ask congregations for an initial donation of $500 to join the program, and an annual contribution of $180 to remain a part of the community (Substack calls this a “Founding Subscription” and an “Annual Subscription”). For the 2025-2026 Cohort:
Info Sessions (all the same): July 24, 2:30-3:30pm; July 29, 1:00-2:00pm; or August 6, 3:00-4:00pm for those who are curious.
Once you sign on, we will provide promotional material which you can customize for your community.
The facilitator Crash Course will be held on August 12, 2:30-4:00pm. This crash course will familiarize you with our philosophy; explain how to promote, prepare, and start session one; and provide tips and tricks for facilitating through common pitfalls while taking advantage of key opportunities.
Monthly coaching will always be the second Thursday of the month from 1:30-2:30pm on Zoom, and our first session for this cohort will be September 11, 2025. At each monthly coaching, we will do a deep dive on one session and leave time for questions about other sessions as needed.
If you are considering joining the 2025-2026 Cohort, or you just want to be in touch, please fill our our interest form using the button below and we will reply with next steps.
We have observed that after approximately three sessions, colleagues begin to adapt the sessions to their own ways of doing things in response to what is working best with their congregations. Because part of our core theology is that healthy spiritual exploration must be situated in a specific community, each with its particular covenantal values and culture, a one-size-fits-all approach is not optimal. Therefore, please start with our materials, and adapt according to what you know works for your people. Come to monthly office hours and use the comments section below each session post, where colleagues can ask and answer questions, offer ideas about what worked, or suggest changes to the materials. And even if you do not need help with a session, please share your wisdom with American Scripture Project clergy community. We are looking forward to hearing how these American scriptures worked for you.