Submitting to Gathering
Here’s what happens when you send in a contribution to Gathering:
Step 1: Gather and Send. You submit your original prayers, worship services, dramas, or worship ideas by clicking the Submit button on GatheringWorship.ca. We count on you to submit worship material throughout the year! Watch our Upcoming Themes page for ideas. Writers for Weekly Services and special features are invited to write by the Editor, but we always welcome volunteers. (Contact us through GatheringWorship.ca).
Step 2: Thank You! Received. You receive a thank you and acknowledgment through the website when your material is submitted. Material received is then forwarded to the Editor and Music Editor, who file the material by contributor to use for appropriate scriptures, seasons, and liturgical occasions. If your submission isn’t used right away, it might be in line for the next time the three-year lectionary cycle comes around. We do our best to find some way to share most contributions.
Step 3: Curate, Compile, and Edit. The work starts about 10 months ahead of the first Sunday for each issue. This is (very) part-time for both Susan (High River, Alberta) and Tammy-Jo (Edmonton, Alberta), who work on Gathering in the midst of their full-time congregational and choir work. Sometimes it gets a bit interesting when they are compiling for one liturgical season, proofreading for another, and moving through a third in their congregation at the same time!
Step 4: Manuscript and More Editing. Susan and Tammy-Jo submit their files to Catherine Dorton, our Copy and Production Editor. Catherine edits the manuscript according to The United Church of Canada Style Guide and sends it back to Susan and Tammy-Jo with questions. The team also carefully considers emerging justice and theological issues when editing a piece. Material may also be modified for a broader context or to fit with a specific scripture. With so many contributors per issue, we’re not able to contact you about these edits. When you send in material, you are entrusting it to the care of our editorial team. French translations of select pieces are done by Etienne Marcoux and Denis Fortin with the Ministries in French (MiF) unit.
Step 5: Graphic Design. The edited manuscript is sent to Ian Ball, who does the layout, adding in graphics and placing ads provided by the UCRD Marketing people, and creating the whole design of Gathering.
Step 6: Proofs. The first set of designed pages (proofs) is reviewed by Alydia (Program Coordinator, Worship, Music, and Spirituality), Susan, and Tammy-Jo, and proofread by Catherine. The revisions go back to Ian for inputting. Margaret Crammond, a professional proofreader, checks the second set of proofs. The pages are corrected and reviewed until we are satisfied (and still some mistakes get through…sigh!). We go through three sets of proofs as a team.
Step 7: Print. Catherine and Ian give the final and fourth proof one more look before sending the issue to the printers. The magazines are mailed approximately three months before the start of the season to give worship planners time to peruse, ponder, and prepare.
Step 8: Post. The issue (plus bonus material) is posted to GatheringWorship.ca. You can search for and download materials and create services from the current issue as well as from previous years, for all seasons, scriptures, and occasions.
Step 9: Praise God! Worship planners, worship teams, and congregations make use of material and ideas that come from churches across Canada and beyond, enhancing their worship of God! Then you send us your ideas to share with other worship planners. What an amazing process!
