1. Have a theme of common interest- Select the texts around a theme which is of interest to all participants as this will help everyone to engage in the process.

2. Get suggestions of passages from each faith community- Each faith group involved should have the opportunity to suggest one or two passages which they feel are suited to the theme.

3. Consider the length of the passages- Ideally passages should not be too long as this often means that there is too much to discuss in a short space of time and makes it less likely that participants will have the chance to 'go deeper' into a text. 

​4. Consider the context of a passage- Where possible, the context of a passage should also be taken into account so that a short amount of text is not taken too out of context, though this can be mitigated by giving a good introduction to the passage.

5. Choosing translations- It is important to remember that every translation is a interpretation of the original text and will therefore have flaws in some peoples' eyes. The group may decide to stick with one translation for all scriptural reasoning sessions, or they may wish to choose different translations on different occasions according to what they see as fitting.