On a quiet stretch of Edgehill Avenue just south of downtown Nashville, a small United Methodist church has spent six decades doing big things. Since 1966, Edgehill United Methodist Church has been the first intentionally integrated congregation in the city, a founding member of a citywide faith-led organizing coalition, and a longtime safe harbor for LGBTQIA+ people, families without preschool options, neighbors facing eviction, and people on Tennessee's death row. The church's own description is more plain: "a scrappy bunch of COGs (Children of God) deeply rooted in our neighborhood and committed to doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God and with our neighbor."
Sunday Worship and What to Expect
Worship gathers at 9:30 AM every Sunday at 1502 Edgehill Ave, both in person and online. The livestream is available on YouTube and Facebook, and recent services are posted to a podcast and kept on the church's YouTube channel for anyone who wants to catch up later in the week.
The sanctuary is intentionally relaxed. "Very relaxed, inclusive, progressive, and 'low church,'" the congregation answers when asked about the vibe. Dress is whatever a visitor is comfortable in - most people wear jeans, shorts, or t-shirts, and some go with khakis or dresses. "As long as you wear clothes, we're fine with whatever you want to wear."
Both sanctuary doors are wheelchair accessible, and the building includes a "prayground" - a corner of the sanctuary with crafts and toys - so children can stay with their grownups during worship. Children return at the end of the service for communion. Nursery care is also provided during worship for children from birth through age 10, with a rotation of church members serving as caregivers.
The welcome extends to everyone, in the words the church uses repeatedly: "No matter who you are, who you love, how you identify, what you believe (or don't believe), there is a place for you here. We invite you to show up to our radically inclusive community with your whole self."
Sunday School and Small Groups
Immediately after worship, at 10:45 AM, adults gather for Sunday school in the Cobb-Faulk Room. Classes typically read books that engage faith and justice or dig into the context and background of scripture. Recent series have included a four-week study on immigration in Scripture and contemporary literature led by Dr. Victor Judge of Vanderbilt Divinity School.
On the second Sunday of each month, the Sunday school hour doubles as a community brunch with refreshments and fellowship. Small groups meet at other times during the week, offering another on-ramp for anyone looking to go deeper with a smaller circle.
Meaty Mondays and the Young Adults of Edgehill
Young adults in their twenties and thirties - and anyone who wants to join them - gather monthly on Monday evenings at 6 PM for a program the church calls "Meaty Monday." The format is always the same: dinner together, plus an activity. Past gatherings have included a bonfire and s'mores night, gingerbread house decorating, game nights, an improv comedy workshop, and a poetry workshop with Meg Wade of Larkspur Conservation. Dinner is free, no RSVP is required, and the church extends a standing invitation: "Bring a friend, come as you are."
Neighborhood Ministries: The Heart of Edgehill's Mission
The church's neighborhood ministries have served families in the Edgehill neighborhood since 1968 and are directed by Nancy Crutcher, who herself grew up in the programs and the church. The ministries are subsidized by the church's general giving and supported by donors across Nashville.
Edgehill Early Learning Program nurtures and educates children from six months to three years old, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30 AM to 1 PM during the school year. In addition to caring for children, the program gives parents room to work, run errands, and care for themselves.
Brighter Days After School Tutoring runs Monday through Wednesday from 3:00 to 5:30 PM, September through May. Students receive transportation, one-on-one tutoring, a hot meal prepared by the Nashville Food Project, outdoor recreation, and the steady attention of caring adult volunteers. Tutors are asked to commit to one day a week for the school year.
On Saturday mornings from 10:00 to 11:30 AM, the Saturday Mentoring Program invites volunteers to share a craft or a skill with neighborhood children. Past mentors have led dance, music, clay-making, photography, video production, yoga, meditation, creative writing, and professional development sessions.
Summer Camp runs from early June through mid-July, Monday through Thursday, 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM, for ages seven through eleven. Campers take part in a global education program that introduces cultures through dance, art, and food, partner with the local library on a summer reading program, swim, and go on field trips around the city.
For parents, the Moms of Edgehill Support Group meets on the third Wednesday of every month from 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM, offering mutual support along with parenting tips, mindfulness practices, self-care, women's health, and spiritual care. For seniors, the Edgehill Slow Pokes ministry gathers with residents of the I.W. Gernert Studio Apartments for fellowship, a shared meal, and spiritual care.
Six Decades at the Edge: A History of Inclusion
Edgehill has called itself "on the edge" since its founding in 1966. That year it became the first intentionally integrated congregation in Nashville, and it has continued to put itself in uncomfortable places ever since.
In 1971, when the Metropolitan Community Church - a denomination ministering primarily to gay and lesbian Christians - was looking for a place to worship, no other church in Nashville would host them. Edgehill's church council voted unanimously to open the sanctuary on Sunday evenings. After arson destroyed MCC's temporary worship space, the group returned to Edgehill, and the relationship deepened from borrowed space to shared life.
When the United Methodist Church adopted a policy in 1984 excluding "self-avowed, practicing homosexuals" from ordained ministry, Edgehill resisted. It joined the new Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN) and became the first Reconciling Congregation in the UMC's Southeastern Jurisdiction. The discernment work Edgehill had done with MCC in the 1970s became the blueprint for the network itself. Edgehill member Rev. Beth Richardson was a co-founder of RMN.
Through the HIV/AIDS crisis of the 1980s and 1990s, Edgehill hosted support groups and prayer services for people living with HIV/AIDS and for the families, partners, and caregivers who had been rejected by their own churches. Members visited hospital rooms, sat at bedsides, held memorials, and turned their homes into hospice spaces. In December 2025 the church hosted an early preview and panel discussion of the forthcoming documentary "The Body of Christ Has AIDS," which prominently features Edgehill's care and ministry in those years.
In July 2026, the congregation marked its 60th anniversary with a celebration that included a proclamation from Nashville Council Member Terry Vo.
Faith in Action: Justice and Organizing
Activism is not a program at Edgehill; it is the church's main response to the gospel. The congregation frames its justice work with the words of Luke 4:18 - "to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
Edgehill is a founding member of Nashville Organized for Action and Hope (NOAH), a multi-racial, interdenominational, faith-led coalition of congregations, community organizations, and labor unions. Edgehill members serve on NOAH task forces focused on affordable housing, education, criminal justice reform, and economic equity, and they help organize the coalition's public meetings with elected officials.
The church has long been active on immigration. Members have spoken out, met with state legislators, protested at the State General Assembly, and stood with immigrant neighbors facing deportation. Voting access is another ongoing commitment: Edgehill regularly canvasses the Edgehill neighborhood - which has the third-lowest voter turnout in Davidson County - and joins with Greater Bethel AME Church and NOAH for an annual Souls to the Polls March on National Vote Early Day, walking from the church to the Scarritt Bennett Center to cast ballots together.
Edgehill's homeless ministry is rooted in partnership. On the National Weekend to End Homelessness in Worship, the Voices of Resilience Homeless Choir sings in worship, a special offering supports Open Table Nashville, and a Sunday school discussion follows on homelessness, abolition, and spirituality. A free community clothing swap, hosted several times a year, invites neighbors to bring a bag of gently used clothes and take whatever they need.
Each year, the church holds its third-annual Black History Month Celebration during worship, weaving music, dance, poetry, prayer, and storytelling into the service. World Communion Sunday brings Edgehill together with its sister church, Seay-Hubbard UMC, for a shared communion liturgy representing the languages of the world.
Pastoral Care and Prison Ministry
The Pastoral Care Ministry visits and writes cards to sick and homebound members, provides transportation, and runs errands for those who need them. Members are also trained to volunteer as visitors on Tennessee's death row through an annual Visitation on Death Row orientation at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, hosted in partnership with Woodmont Christian Church.
Music, Poetry, and the Arts
Music runs deep in the Edgehill community. The Edgehill Choir is directed by Kevin Madill and welcomes new voices at any time. Members and friends stage concerts and releases in Nashville and beyond - including performances at Vinyl Tap - and the Edgehill Christmas Concert each December has become an annual tradition featuring musicians who stop through the church.
Poetry has its own place in the rhythm of the year, with workshops and readings that bring published authors and community poets into the Sunday school hour. Recent gatherings have included a conversation with journalist Nico Lang about "American Teenager" and a celebration of Edgehill member Pam Hopkins and her latest poetry collection.
Edgehill's Campus and Practical Information
The church sits at 1502 Edgehill Ave, Nashville, TN 37212. Parking is available in the lot behind the two red houses at 1416 and 1414 Edgehill Ave, or on the street. Both sanctuary entrances are wheelchair accessible.
Office hours are Tuesday through Thursday from 9:30 AM to 2:30 PM. The phone is (615) 254-7628 and the email is office@edgehill.org.
On the Edgehill campus, the Barnes Community House offers intentional, affordable housing for adults ages 22 to 35 who are exploring ministry, working in faith-shaped vocations, or growing as disciples within an inclusive Christian community. The house is named for founding pastor Rev. Bill Barnes and continues his legacy of "faith in action - centered on love, justice, and inclusion."
Edgehill's Christmas season includes the candlelight Christmas Eve service at 5 PM, the Christmas concert, and (new in 2026) the first Edgehill Christmas Pageant, which casts children and adults in roles from angels to the much-loved first and second Christmas lobsters. Throughout the year, "Meaty Monday" dinners, drum circles, cooking classes, and community work days keep the calendar full and the doors open. Giving is available online through Realm and through mobile payment apps linked from the church's giving page.
Edgehill UMC's motto - painted across the top of its homepage - sums up the welcome that has drawn Nashville progressives, LGBTQIA+ Christians, young adults, longtime neighbors, and visiting activists to 1502 Edgehill Ave for sixty years: "Everyone has a place at this table."