by Andrea Martinie Eiler of the Bloomington Christian Radical Catholic Worker
One delightful way to connect with other Christians and Intentional Communities is to plan an event where people can gather to fellowship, worship, and discuss ideas together. Creating a day or weekend filled with connection (and food!) is worth the effort as the return is: deepened relationships, inspired imaginations, and nourished faith journeys. I’ve compiled some practical ideas to help you plan a gathering of your own. These are a “starter kit” that can be a platform for adding in your own creativity.
An important consideration as you envision the time and space you’re about to shape is whether you want to plan a one-day gathering or an entire weekend. A one-day gathering is a great way to dip your toes into the planning of such an event. One day is manageable and might allow you to decide if that is ‘enough’ or if a longer gathering would be even better for the next time around. One day is simply much easier logistics! However, a weekend can allow folks to travel in from farther distances, knowing the drive (or flight) is worth the effort for a multiple day event. A weekend can allow for more unplanned, unscripted conversation time. With many hours together, relationships have time to organically flourish. Also, a weekend gives time to talk to more of the interesting people in attendance.
First Steps
Find a person or two who share your interest in gathering folks together. Brainstorm how many folks you envision attending. Will this be a one day gathering? A weekend? What do you hope for from your time together? What does this mean as far as the space/buildings/locations you will need? What is your budget? Will you charge for people to attend the gathering? When would you like this gathering to take place?
Search for a location to host your gathering. Try researching churches, church camps, city parks and rec departments, or State Parks to find locations that offer the accommodations you need for a one day or full weekend gathering.
Visit the top two sites that pique your interest AND are available the dates you hope for. If possible, have a caretaker of the site give you a tour. Take a notebook to write down the details of your visit including numbers of: rooms, beds, campsites, toilets, and showers. Take a moment in the kitchen to see if you need to bring items to make your cooking/cleaning more possible: do they have plenty of silverware, dishes (especially bowls), large pots and pans, fridge space, freezer space, pantry space, and towels? Will someone need to spend some time figuring out how to use any of the appliances, especially the industrial dishwasher or stove?
Finalize your location choice, fill out the required paperwork, and send the down-payment. Keep all emails in one e-folder that pertain to communications about the gathering location. Take a minute to smile, because this is an important piece of planning a gathering and you really did it!
Ask your location contact what further documentation steps are necessary. You may need to purchase insurance, fill out facility use agreements, sign alcohol use procedures, etc. Complete the necessary paperwork.
Figure out the rules for your location and follow them. If necessary, communicate them to your attenders. (No children can be in the kitchen, fire rings only allowed in gravel areas, etc).
Getting People There!
Send a Save-The-Date postcard, email, or text to folks on your invitation list. Include the date, a description of the gathering, times, and the location (if you have nailed that down). Send the Save-The-Date ( for an entire weekend, I recommend approximately 5 months) in advance of your gathering. Are you needing RSVPs? If yes, also include the contact information for RSVP communications.
Share your invites as widely as is appropriate, including on related websites (NCN, Parish Collective, Catholic Worker, etc.)
As invitees express interest or confirm their intended attendance, create a document that compiles all necessary contact information. Continually update the document with new folks’ contact information as you receive RSVPs. This will allow you to have all contact information in one place that is easy to access. As the event date comes closer, you can email everyone that is planning to attend in one informative email, rather than looking through your many email threads to try to update various individuals, well, individually.
The Information Packet
Begin to create your information packet. This will be a central resource of pertinent information for your gathering. It will be helpful to give to new people (“Have you heard?”) and to those who have confirmed their attendance (“I forget what she said about whether we need bedding or not.”).
Include the dates/times, location, housing accommodation options, parking instructions, accessibility needs, any explanations for kids/families, special instructions (there’ll be a chance to play in the creek, bring yoga clothes, or please bring yarn for our shared craft project, etc.), RSVP instructions, alcohol policy, pet policy, a packing list for attenders, and clear contact info in case of questions. We here at the Bloomington Catholic Worker also include the daily schedules in our information packet, but this is not necessary. (You should get those printed for the actual event, but up to you if you want them passed out beforehand).
Also, include how and when you would like to receive the registration fees. It might be good to find an organizer type who is happy to keep track of who has paid and who has yet to pay. This can be a happy helper and does not need to be one of the main planners of the event.
What Schedule do You Envision?
No matter what schedule you create, remember you can ask EVERY attender to help with the execution of the schedule in some way. Each attender can be asked to cook, clean up a meal, greet arrivals, take folks around the location to familiarize them with the space, provide childcare, lead prayer, lead a workshop, offer a plenary presentation, lead worship, clean the location after the event is over, lifeguard, call the Contra dance, build the campfires, lead the soccer game. The list goes on. The point is, everyone can and should and will help you!!! Just ask! Or just tell them! Side note–I like to give a bit of a silly gift for folks who take on jobs that might be truly servant-hearted tasks. At our gathering, this gift goes to the people who agree to lead the deep clean of the communal bathrooms when the gathering is finished.
Will your gathering be totally hang-out informal or hyper-scheduled or somewhere in between? Plan what activities you hope to share and sketch out your schedule.
Will all activities be intergenerational or will you need to plan for childcare? What toys/activities/curriculum will you have on hand for possible childcare providers?
(I’ve included the 2025 Ohio River Valley Gathering schedule at the end of this article so you can see one example of how the schedule might shake down.)
Meals/Kitchen
How will meals work for your gathering? Will you (for a one-day gathering) have the hosts (you) prepare a meal or are you asking attenders to bring a potluck dish? Do you have catering connections that could cover the meal?
For weekend gatherings: Will you have a point person who is always in the kitchen directing a crew of people cooking and cleaning? Will you ask various attenders to handle the management of one meal each? Will you ask for cooking help before the event or will folks sign up to help once they arrive?
Who is bringing the food? Will everyone bring items to cook that can be used communally? Will folks in charge of each meal bring all the food they need? Will you do the shopping/dumpstering/baking before the event to bring all the food that is needed for each meal?
Don’t hesitate to ask your host site if you can come for another in-person visit in order to help you plan.
Keep in mind that at most gatherings nowadays you will need to have gluten free options and non-meat options available at meals.
Someone in your circle is really good at cooking and feeding people, don’t hesitate to ask for their help on this one.
Childcare
Kids make gatherings much more joyful! Plan if children will always be with their parents at your gathering or if you will have separate spaces and activities for children at various points. Always make sure there are two grown-ups with each age group for safety and bathroom breaks or breaking away to put on another bandaids.
Will you ask certain adults before the gathering to help with childcare or will folks sign up to help with a childcare shift once they arrive? Will there be a curriculum, free play, planned games, etc? Will all children be together or will there be separate age groups?
Is it possible to pay two teenagers/young adults to offer a certain number of hours of childcare?
If you go the route of free play with folks signing up after they arrive at the gathering, I suggest that one or more people bring some fun activities for the adults to utilize during their shift. We have enjoyed bringing and utilizing kickballs, frisbees, face paints, picture books, legos, paper/markers/colored pencils, wooden blocks, and magnatiles.
What Else?
Take some sort of First Aid kit or make sure the site has a fully stocked kit. At our gathering we use LOTS of bandaids and antibiotic ointment every year!
You and your helpers should arrive early to the gathering site to settle in and unload supplies. It is very helpful for you or one of your helpers to bring paper and tape in order to label areas in the kitchen and pantry for each meal or for anytime snacks. Give yourself a bit more time with set-up than you are guessing you might need. Do set-up, go on a walk to clear your head, and join with any other helpers to say a prayer over the gathering before it begins. Breathe deep and know you have prepared well!
I think it is best to have someone greet arrivals in order to set the atmosphere as a welcoming and joyful one. Also the greeter is necessary to answer questions, direct traffic, hand out schedules, and get those name tags on.
Who will be the person/people to keep the schedule moving? This person should be confident and vigilant with giving time checks (“Ten minutes til prayer!” etc). Personally, I find it helpful to teach a very simple song at the beginning of the gathering so that everyone knows, when you hear this specific song, get quiet and wait for a directive regarding the schedule.
It can be helpful to hang a large version of the schedule in your main gathering area. We write out the schedule on large post-it paper and stick it to the wall.
Please be generous with yourself during the gathering. The logistics and scheduling (and unplanned injuries or fire alarms or very late meals or rain storms…) can cause some tension in your shoulders. Celebrate gathering these people and having creative and generative conversations about following Jesus!!!! That’s the important thing!
If you’re a list maker like me, keep a little notebook with you throughout the gathering–or send yourself texts–about ideas for improving the gathering for next year.
After the gathering is over, get anyone who helped plan the gathering–or anyone who seems interested in planning for next year–together for some coffee and talk about what was wonderful and what needs tweaking. Keep the information you brainstorm and get it out again as you plan the next gathering!
Schedule and Info Packet Example
The following link is the information packet for the 2025 Ohio River Valley Gathering of Intentional Christian Communities and Catholic Workers. It is included as an example, but there are sooo many other ways to plan the packet and the schedule:
Here is the link
Andrea and her husband Ross are members of the Bloomington Catholic Worker, along with their four children.