Unity of Nashville — a positive, practical, progressive spiritual community

Dated items disappear from this page by themselves once they have passed, so nothing here is ever out of date.

Unity of Nashville  ·  Est. 1916

Celebrating 110 Yearsof Positive · Practical · Progressive Spirit

✦

Rev. Denise Yeargin, our Senior Minister, warmly invites you to join us for a sacred weekend honoring 110 years of Unity of Nashville — two gatherings, one community, one story still unfolding.

Saturday  ·  26 September

Annual Homecoming Gala

An Evening of Elegance — an evening of gratitude, elegance and celebration

6:00 PM

Cocktails & appetizers

6:30 PM

Food stations

7:30 PM

Music & celebration

$100per person

Reserve a seat — pay by PayPal

Sunday  ·  27 September

Homecoming is Where the Magic Happens

Guest speaker Rev. Robin Reiter, author of Sacred Abundance

10:00 AM

Meditation

11:00 AM

Homecoming celebration

Noon

Lunch celebration

All welcomenothing to reserve

5125 Franklin Pike  ·  Nashville, TN 37220
Questions — office@unityofnashville.org  ·  (615) 333-1323

Matsiko World Orphan Choir

A special show and fundraiser, Wednesday 14 October at six o'clock.

A weekend with don Miguel Ruiz Jr.

Saturday 7 November, a VIP book signing. Sunday 8 November, he speaks on Sunday morning.

The congregational year

How the church governs itself, and when. Exact dates are announced as they are set — here, and from the podium on a Sunday.

13 September

Congregational meeting, 12:30 pm — brought forward from October.

September

The Nominating Committee is formed, and membership renewal opens.

November

The Board approves the slate of trustee nominees, at least thirty days before the Annual Meeting.

By 1 December

The annual budget is approved, thirty days before the fiscal year begins.

January

The Annual Meeting and the election of trustees. Notice goes out at least ten days beforehand. Candidate biographies are displayed in Fillmore Fellowship Hall, and candidates are introduced from the podium.

Members in good standing vote at the Annual Meeting. If you are unsure of your standing, write to office@unityofnashville.org.

One hour apart, every Sunday. Some people come to both. Most pick the one that fits how they want to meet the week.

• 5125 Franklin Pike, Nashville — the building with the cupola on the roof, the one in our mosaic.

Nobody should have to walk into a room cold. These are recent lessons, exactly as they happened, with the topic Rev. Denise actually taught.

Still to come this season

Spring 2026 — April through June

A season on peace, then paradox, then identity. Three of these have a recording linked; the rest are in the archive on the church's YouTube channel.

All recorded services on YouTube

Our Youth and Family Ministry is committed to creating a safe, loving, and nurturing environment where each child can fully experience and express the divine within them.

Children learn Unity's five basic principles in language that actually makes sense to them — through art, story, music, and heart agreements they help write themselves. No fear, no shame. Just the steady message that they are whole, loved, and enough.

• Care for infants in our Montessori-style nursery, and the Youth Education studio for children and teens up to 17 — during the 11:00 AM Celebration Service
• Age-appropriate lessons built on Unity’s core teachings — sacred circle, Godly play, prayer, music, stories and affirmations
• Heart agreements written with the kids, not for them
• Resources and support for Unity parents

Alissa Moreno

Youth Ministry Coordinator

Alissa coordinates the Youth & Family Ministry — the nursery, the Youth Education studio, and the heart agreements the children write for themselves. Write to her at youth@unityofnashville.org.

She is also a songwriter, and a working one. She started violin at two, piano at five and guitar at seventeen, and signed to Universal Music Group in 2006. With Jeffrey Steele she wrote Every Day for Rascal Flatts — it reached number two, was nominated for a Grammy, won a CMT Music Award for its video in 2009 and a BMI Million-Air award in 2010.

Her songs have been recorded by John Oates, Javier Colón, Morgan Heritage and Elvis Blue, and she has written with Colbie Caillat and Vertical Horizon. She wrote the theme for ABC’s Hope & Faith and a show ID for Lifetime’s Army Wives, and has two albums of her own. She has played the Opry, the Hotel Café, the Viper Room and the House of Blues.

The children in the studio on a Sunday morning are being taught by someone who has done it at that level.

Once a child is checked out of Youth & Family Ministry they are the parent’s responsibility again. Children are not permitted outside without a responsible adult.

Most of these meet every week, in the House Classroom, the Meditation Room or the Fillmore Fellowship Hall. Two of them — Noon Prayer and The Language of Life — also run on Zoom, and those carry the link. Drop in. Nothing here requires signing up first, and no class assumes you have been to the one before it.

Times move with the seasons. Call the office at (615) 333-1323 before a first visit and someone will confirm the week.

Voices in Unity

Our choir. New voices are always welcome — no audition, no experience required, and no expectation that you can read music. If you sing in the car, you can sing here.

The house band plays alongside them most Sundays at the eleven o'clock Celebration service. Rehearsals are weekly; the fastest way in is to say so after a service.

Quieter ground

A walking path on the grounds, open any day, no appointment and no reason needed.

Photographed on the grounds. Nothing here is staged.

Unity is a positive, practical, progressive approach to life. We honor the universal truths in all religions and respect every person’s right to choose their own spiritual path.

Come as you are. Sit where you like. Stay for coffee.

The questions people actually ask

Who to write to

office@unityofnashville.org

Anything at all — visits, events, volunteering, and the weekly note.

minister@unityofnashville.org

Rev. Denise, directly. Prayer, pastoral care, weddings and memorials.

youth@unityofnashville.org

Youth & Family — the nursery, the Youth Education studio, and anything to do with the children.

bookkeeper@unityofnashville.org

Giving records, pledges, and anything to do with the books.

What Unity believes

In the congregation's own words. Nothing here is a test — you are welcome long before you agree with any of it.

God

God is Spirit, the loving source of all that is. One power, all good, everywhere present. In Unity we also speak of God as Life, Light, Love, Substance, Principle, Law and Universal Mind.

Jesus

Jesus expressed his divine potential and sought to show us how to express ours. A master teacher of universal truths, and our Way-Shower. We use "Christ" to mean the divinity in humankind.

Human nature

We are each individual, eternal expressions of God. Our essential nature is divine and therefore inherently good.

The law of mind action

Thought has creative power in our experience. Choosing life-affirming thoughts, words and actions changes what we live.

Prayer and meditation

Affirmative prayer is the highest form of creative thought — releasing what is counterproductive and holding statements of spiritual truth. In meditation we experience the presence of God.

Still evolving

Unity teachings continue to change as we identify, embrace and apply new spiritual insight and the implications of new discovery.

1916

Elizabeth Pierce Sand leads a Unity study group downtown, meeting in the old Maxwell House and Tulane Hotels.

1938

First building purchased for $5,500 at 1816 Broad Street.

1965

Broad Street sold; the congregation moves to Woodmont Boulevard.

1988

The Barn is dedicated — once a real barn with a dirt floor and three stables, rebuilt by the congregation's own plumbing, carpentry, and electrical work.

1990

The first building raised from the ground up is dedicated to more than 400 congregants, funded by $1,000,000 in faith bonds.

2016

Centennial year. Twenty-five spiritual leaders, one unbroken line.

Only four photographs survive from the early years, and all four are small. They are shown here at their true size, as prints — enlarging them would only blur what is left.

Twenty-five, in an unbroken line

Every person who has led this congregation since Elizabeth Pierce Sand gathered a study group downtown in 1916. Overlapping dates reflect associate, interim and transitional appointments, exactly as our own records show them.

Up and coming

Plans are drawn for the building's next chapter — a new face on the sanctuary, the Maxine Thurman Caruth Courtyard at the entrance, and the Joan Campbell Kennedy Meditation Garden with running water, a rock garden and a fire bowl.

Two of these spaces carry names — the Maxine Thurman Caruth Courtyard at the door, and the Joan Campbell Kennedy Meditation Garden beyond it. The cupola stays too: it is the oldest thing about the building's face, and the one the congregation carries on its own mark.

No pressure and no timeline. Take the step that fits where you actually are today.

Rent the space

The building is available to the wider community — for meetings, receptions, recitals, classes, memorials and events.

For availability, rates and a look at the rooms, write to office@unityofnashville.org.

Ways to give

A one-time gift

Give securely online — the same link the code opens. Card or PayPal, no account required.

A recurring gift

Set up monthly giving through Vanco, our secure processor. Change or stop it yourself at any time.

By check

Unity of Nashville, 5125 Franklin Pike, Nashville, TN 37220.

Kroger Community Rewards

Link your Kroger Plus card to Unity of Nashville and every eligible purchase gives a little, at no cost to you.

IRA and retirement distributions

A qualified charitable distribution from an IRA can go straight to Unity of Nashville. Speak with your IRA sponsor, or call the office on (615) 333-1323.