Integrated Voter Engagement (IVE) Phone Banking

Next action: Saturday, August 8th, 1pm-2:30pm

Register for location info!

We are calling inactive voters because we believe our vote is our voice, and we all deserve to be heard.

Join NOAH’s IVE team to get out the vote in targeted Nashville neighborhoods, because TN is Home!

RSVP for 8/8 Phonebanking

NOAH August Monthly Meeting

Next Tuesday, August 11th, 6:30pm @ First UU Nashville

Cricut Makerspace Party for 12 – A Creative Afternoon of DIY Fun!

Date: August 29, 2026

Time: 1:30 - 3:30 PM

Location: Greater Nashville UU Congregation, 374 Hicks Road, Nashville, TN 37221

Donation: $25

Spots Available: 8

Get ready to unleash your creativity at the Cricut Makerspace Party, hosted by The Reveals, The Baileys, and Gina Achtmann! Whether you're a crafting pro or a total beginner, this hands-on workshop is your chance to design and print custom items using state-of-the-art Cricut printers.

What’s Included:

Expert guidance from Lindyne & Eddie, Kristin & Nathanael, and Gina, who will bring their Cricut machines.

Personalized design assistance – create your own custom item!

All materials for printing.

A fun, creative atmosphere with fellow DIY enthusiasts!

We'll vote: Should we print cards, T-shirt Iron-Ons, Stickers, or mugs? Several options will be available due to supplies.

Sign up now for a spot at this exclusive crafting experience! Whether you’re making a one-of-a-kind gift or a fun keepsake, this event promises an afternoon of creativity, laughter, and hands-on fun.

Contact: Kristin R.

Board Members and those interested in Social Justice training — join us at the Tennessee Solidarity Summit.

DATES: Friday, September 18th - Sunday, September 20th

LOCATION: Neshoba Unitarian Universalist Church in East Memphis, 7350 Raleigh Lagrange Rd, Cordova, TN 38018 (3 hour drive from GNUUC)

Featured Speakers: Rep. Justin Pearson, Emily Yelin

This is free to attend, and travel/housing will be arranged.

Tennessee UU Community Action Network (TUUCAN) in coordination with UU The Vote and Side With Love is hosting a regional Solidarity Summit in Memphis.

The Solidarity Summit is a regional interfaith justice training and practice gathering that brings together Unitarian Universalists and other people of faith to strengthen the relationships, tools, and capacities needed for this moment. It will provide hands-on tools focused on training, relationship-building, and collective practice.

Participants can expect:

Political education on the role of faith in justice movements

Skill-building workshops and strategic training

Concrete tools for community building, safety, resilience, and action

Relationship-building with faith leaders, organizers, and movement partners

Opportunities to strengthen local and regional collaboration

Depending on the summit, gatherings may include tracks or workshops focused on:

Electoral and pro-democracy organizing

Community defense and safety

Bodily autonomy and liberation struggles

Immigration and decriminalization justice

No matter what your organizing experience, or issue area, this is a place for you to grow your skills and deepen your relationships.

If you are interested in attending or have any questions, please email Caren S-S.

You are Invited to the Installation of

Reverend Denise Gyauch

as the settled minister of

Greater Nashville Unitarian Universalist Congregation.

Saturday, September 26, 2 PM.

Reception to Follow.

An installation is the congregational act of formally entering into shared ministry with their professional minister. Offering and accepting a call to parish ministry is a life-changing event that gives us the opportunity to embody our Unitarian Universalist history and theology in a meaningful way. 

Rev. Denise Gyauch joined Greater Nashville Unitarian Universalist Congregation as a contracted minister in the Fall of 2021 as we started to meet again in person after the pandemic. During these years together, our congregation has grown and become more grounded. Earlier this year, our congregation held a vote to call Rev. Denise as our settled minister.  

We invite everyone to participate in the preparation of the installation service and join us that day as we celebrate this important milestone for GNUUC, our third permanently called minister in our 34 year history.

Our August Share the Plate partner is The Equity Alliance.

Founded in 2016, The Equity Alliance is Tennessee's most influential Black-led organizing force, building culturally rooted civic engagement in Black communities year-round. They have registered over 90,000 voters and organize across Nashville, Memphis, and Clarksville, with plans to grow statewide. Their work meets people where they are, giving them tools to shape the systems that govern their lives — through voter education, policy advocacy, campaigns, and economic power building.

This year, The Equity Alliance is leading three priority campaigns: Universal Childcare, which fights to cap costs and expand state funding for Tennessee families; Housing Justice, which creates pathways to homeownership and keeps new development benefiting existing communities; and Environmental Justice, which ensures Black communities have a voice in decisions affecting their health and safety.

Please give generously this month to our Share the Plate partner, The Equity Alliance.

How to give

Each Share the Plate gift is divided evenly: half supports Just Us, and half supports GNUUC's general fund. To direct your gift to Share the Plate, use the keyword "share":

In the sanctuary: cash or check in a provided envelope (memo: share)

Online: visit NashvilleUU.org, click Donate, then Give to and choose the “Give to Share the Plate” fund

By text: text 615-246-5553 with "[Amount] share" (example: $50 share)

By mail: GNUUC, 374 Hicks Road, Nashville, TN 37221 (memo: share)

Each summer, worship at GNUUC becomes a chorus of our own voices. From July through Labor Day weekend, members of our congregation take turns leading Sunday services — each offering a story, a passion, or something they've come to understand over a lifetime. It's a season to know one another more deeply and to celebrate the gifts woven through our community.

We're delighted to share this year's lineup of ten members. Join us:

Sun., July 5 — Lisa Gunner, "An Exploration of Identity Through Acknowledgement and Consecration"
Sun., July 12 — Susan Timmons
Sun., July 19 — Mike Morgan, "Sharing Our Stories"
Sun., July 26 — Mir Stoedter
Sun., Aug. 2 — Denise Graves
Sun., Aug. 9 — Charles Pettigrew
Sun., Aug. 16 — Hashim Salameh
Sun., Aug. 23 — Kayla Zumbrunnen
Sun., Aug. 30 — Elizabeth Marlowe
Sun., Sept. 6 — Nathaniel Berle

This month's Share the Plate supports Just Us | Oasis Center, a Nashville program helping LGBTQ+ youth across Middle Tennessee be seen, supported, and celebrated as their authentic selves—a fitting partner for our "Flourishing Together" June. Learn More About Just Us.

It's a fitting partner for our June theme, Flourishing Together, and for our own commitment to being a welcoming congregation—a reminder that when our LGBTQ+ youth thrive, our whole community flourishes.

How to give

Each Share the Plate gift is divided evenly: half supports Just Us, and half supports GNUUC's general fund. To direct your gift to Share the Plate, use the keyword "share":

In the Sanctuary: cash or check in a provided envelope (memo: share)

Online: visit nashvilleuu.org/donate, then click Give to and choose the “Give to Share the Plate” fund.

By text: text 615-246-5553 with "[Amount] share" (example: $50 share)

By mail: GNUUC, 374 Hicks Road, Nashville, TN 37221 (memo: share)

To buy a ticket, purchase an ad, or pay for a sponsorship, click here. Tickets are discounted this year for those under 35!

NOAH is thrilled to announce our keynote speaker for this year’s banquet, Dr. Taure Brown, Director of the James Lawson Institute at Vanderbilt University and a sociologist, educator, and organizer from Kinston, North Carolina. His work sits at the intersection of scholarship and action, equipping communities with the tools to challenge injustice and build collective power.

NOAH in a Nutshell

Nashville Organized for Action and Hope (NOAH) is an anti-racist, inter-faith coalition of congregations, community organizations, and labor unions (around 70 member organizations). We aim to amplify the power of ordinary people so that their voices are heard in the public arena. GNUUC is a founding member of NOAH.

NOAH is a member of Gamaliel, a national network of local organizations committed to building political power by uniting people of different races and faiths.

NOAH engages ordinary people in the political and economic decisions affecting their lives, acting as a unified voice for the faith and justice community to act on its values in the public arena. NOAH does not endorse political candidates but gets them to endorse our issues agenda, and pledge to work with NOAH if they are elected.

Currently, NOAH has four task forces, selected at its most recent Issues Convention: Affordable Housing; Education; Economic Equity, Jobs, and Transportation; and Transformational Justice. Additionally, there are three working groups: the Faith Leaders Caucus, made up of clergy members, Integrated Voter Engagement (IVE), which engages with voters about the issues they care about, and, more recently, the Immigrant Rights Campaign, which has partnered with The Remix to provide Know Your Rights trainings, among other things.

The Mental Health Cooperative was founded in 1993 with a bold mission to provide community-based care for adults with serious mental illnesses. We united three essential services — Urban Case Management, Continuous Treatment Team, and the Mobile Crisis Team — into one coordinated model focused on access, dignity, and real outcomes.”

The Kitchen's supply of containers used for take-home leftovers is depleted. Please return containers you have used to take leftover food home, or donate any extras that you don't need. Bring them on Sundays and drop off at the Kitchen.

Our January Share the Plate partner is Side with Love, the organizing strategy team of the Unitarian Universalist Association.

Side With Love confronts exclusion, oppression, and violence rooted in identity. With the goal of building Beloved Community, they pursue social change through advocacy, public witness, and solidarity with those whose lives are publicly demeaned.

Through education, organizing, and collective action, Side With Love supports work for democracy, climate justice, racial and immigration justice, and LGBTQIA+ and gender justice—reminding us that these struggles are deeply connected, and that lasting change happens when we act together, grounded in love.

Side With Love has also supported our wider Tennessee UU community, including a recent grant that helped make the TUUCAN Fall Flock in Nashville possible.

We invite you to give generously today as a way of choosing, together, to Side With Love.

Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee is dedicated to ensuring equitable access to the food and resources people in our community need to thrive. For nearly 50 years, we have welcomed our neighbors with radical hospitality, empowering them to live free from the daily burden of food insecurity. We prioritize innovation and remain committed to sustainability as we strive for a future where everyone is food secure, and no food is wasted.

GNUUC Women’s Group has provided requested toys, games, books, weighted blankets, etc. to the new Children and Youth ER Psychiatric unit at the Mental Health Cooperative in Nashville. 

The need for mental health services for children is urgent and growing.  Left untreated, mental health disorders can cause severe and long-lasting problems

We hope to make this an on-going service project and will inform the congregation of future opportunities. 

This October, GNUUC’s Sharing the Plate partner is Room In The Inn. The program provides safe shelter, warm meals, and fellowship for our neighbors struggling with homelessness during the coldest months of the year.

This year, we will continue to host overnight guests as part of RITI’s Winter Shelter program. Contact Nathaniel B for more information on volunteering.

White Stork is a US-based, veteran-led critical aid and last mile logistics charity that delivers medical supplies and evacuates civilians from the frontlines in Ukraine. Taking their name from the national bird of Ukraine, their mission is to give every Ukrainian the means to survive. They focus only on Ukraine, assembling and delivering high-quality individual first aid kits to soldiers and civilians. They also provide temporary housing and other forms of humanitarian aid. They do not provide any weapons or ammunition. 

Americans United for Separation of Church and State is a nonpartisan educational and advocacy organization dedicated to advancing the separation of religion and government as the only way to ensure freedom of religion, including the right to believe or not believe, for all. Please donate to Americans United through Share the Plate in July, defending freedom of religion, and freedom of belief.

Please help us by bringing bottled water to church during July.  We will deliver to the Nashville Rescue Mission.  If you have a large vehicle and can help with delivery, please let us know. Please put the water bottles on the table at the back of the Fellowship hall.

On Sunday, June 15, members from FUUN joined GNUUC for Music Sunday. More than 100 people attended in person, and over 30 attended online! After the service, refreshments were shared in the Fellowship Hall. This event was a great success for both congregations, and we look forward to more co-hosted events in the future.

Click Read More to see pictures of Music Sunday.

The GNUUC Board held its monthly meeting on June 18, with members gathering via Zoom to discuss congregational matters and plan for the future.

Financial Update

Treasurer Jesse Spencer-Smith reported excellent financial news. The congregation exceeded budget projections with pledge income at 110% and plate income at 131% of budgeted amounts. The positive financial position will allow GNUUC to prepay next year's UUA Annual Fund contribution ($6,600) and add $2,000 to the building capital fund for future AC unit replacements.

Annual Meeting Reflection

Board members reflected on the recent annual meeting, acknowledging that some discussions became heated, particularly around budget matters. The board identified key learnings:

-Share the budget with congregants well before the annual meeting to allow time for questions and discussion
-Implement regular "meet your board member" opportunities during Sunday announcements
-Better prepare congregants for productive participation through resources like the "Be Prepared, Be Kind" guide to annual meetings

Contract to Call Update

Claire S. reported on the Contract to Call Task Force progress. The team is working to schedule a meeting with UUA representative Christine Purcell to clarify next steps. 

Looking Ahead

Board Retreat: Scheduled for Saturday, August 30, 9 AM - 2 PM at Jesse S-S's home.

Shared Ministry: Rev. Denise will provide updates during Shared Ministry meetings about her ministerial activities to help congregants better understand the breadth of her work.

Appreciation

The board expressed deep gratitude to outgoing members Tina and Carol for their years of dedicated service and welcomed new members Nathaniel B. and Gabby to their roles. A special congregational meeting to officially elect Gabby to the board was scheduled for August 24, following the Sunday service.

The meeting concluded with members feeling optimistic about GNUUC's financial health and committed to improving communication and processes for the congregation's continued growth.