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Worship Preview | Sunday, July 26, 2026

In-person and online service

Deacon of the Week:

The Deacon of the Week is available to talk, provide support, and coordinate care if needed. You are not alone. You are loved. Please reach out to our deacon of the week if you have any needs or concerns.

This week (7/19-7/25) Liz Harris-Lamkin | email: chaplainehl@gmail.com

Next week (7/26-8/1) Patty Thompson | email: pattyellisthompson@gmail.com

Deacon of the Week Prayer:

Sustained Presence,

In this moment, we pause to bend our hearts and minds toward Your flowing and creating love. In all of the real concerns and questions - from ICE violence, escalating provocation and war, illness, joblessness, waiting, and even lettuce - help us dwell deeper in You in each breath right now….five deep breaths!! 

Thank You and Amen.

~ Liz Harris-Lamkin

Click here to read the "Envision the Possibilities" Stewardship Letter

How to Make Your 2026 Pledge

• Scan the QR code for a link to the online Pledge Card
• Click here: https://onrealm.org/gcpcusa/-/form/pledge/envision 
• Email your pledge and giving frequency to giving@gcpcusa.org
• Email Sue Kersbergen (sue@gcpcusa.org) or Denise Ochoa (denise@gcpcusa.org) in the Finance Office at GCPC to help you get set up. 

Summer Choir | Sundays | 9:15 AM | Sanctuary

Come Sing this Sunday! All ages welcome! (Childcare is provided for ages 0 - K)

Come with a curiosity and joy for making music in community! No previous singing experience is necessary. Meet in the Sanctuary by the piano at 9:15 am on Sunday. We will learn a simple song or two to share in worship. Some chime ringers are needed, too!

Hope to see you Sunday!

Blessings, Ray

Architecture Site Visits at GCPC and an invitation!

A Complete Unknown | Thursday July 30 | 6:30-8:00 pm | Fellowship Hall

Parents' Night Out! | Friday, July 31 | 5:30 - 8:30 PM | Fellowship Hall

Parents' Night Out events will continue through 2026! Staff will be on hand to play with kids, do a craft, and enjoy some fellowship together.

ALL KIDS SHOULD PACK A SACK DINNER.  We will provide drinks and dessert. This event is free!

Seasons of Gratitude and Welcoming Home

GCPC Community Garden

NEEDS VOLUNTEERS!

The 2026 garden season is just around the corner and we need more volunteers for the garden team. This is a wonderful way to commune in nature with GCPC members and neighbors alike, all while growing food to share with various communities around Asheville. All ages are welcome... come grow with us!

On Saturday, July 18, Team 4 had five garden volunteers who harvested the following produce that was shared with Loving Food Resources. They also weeded some.

The Pride Collective goes bowling in August!

Stay tuned for the date.

PART (Power & Race Team) | August 6 | 6:00-7:30 PM | Zoom

Thank you Rev. Dr. Tami Forte Logan for sharing your doctoral thesis on our church’s work of eliminating white supremacy in our community and in ourselves at the June meeting.The discussion after the presentation had moments of sharing deep feelings, metabolizing hard things and healing. 

At the August Meeting we will continue our discussion and focus on what is next in our work for our church, ourselves, and PART.

Tami Forte Logan and/or Marcia Mount Shoop will join us.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://zoom.us/j/91314445389

Meeting ID: 913 1444 5389 Passcode: 789

Grace Abounds Food Pantry | Thursday, August 13 |

11:00 AM - 1:00 PM | Sanctuary

We believe the pantry embodies the church’s commitment to service and compassion. We try to keep our shelves stocked with canned goods, rice, beans, crackers, granola bars, cereal and other items. We also provide diapers, baby wipes and feminine products. Our pantry is stocked completely with donations. This is where we need your support to keep our pantry open.

If everyone in the community can bring one item on Sunday we could restock the store!

Needs for next pantry:

• fruit cups
• pasta sauce
• cereal

July Community Defender Training: 

This Year in Immigration at the Supreme Court: Three Decisions and What They Mean for You

Tuesday, July 28, 2026

4:00 pm - 5:30 pm PT | 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm ET

Zoom

Free to Register

Training Description:

In this Community Defender training, we will go over the three major immigration decisions that the Supreme Court made this year: Blanche v. Lau (Lawful Permanent Residents returning from abroad), the TPS decision, and birthright citizenship. We will provide brief explanations of each, discuss the legal background of each case, tell you whom the case affects, and describe what we think will happen next.

This training will be presented in English with Spanish simultaneous interpretation available to participants. We are also in the process of confirming Haitian Kreyol interpretation for this webinar. 

Questions? Please contact events@nipnlg.org. 

Donate your car. Change a life.

Working Wheels accepts donated vehicles to help local working families access reliable transportation. Learn more or donate your vehicle at workingwheelswnc.org.  

"Chefs in Action tickets are officially on sale now!

Join us for a vibrant, cocktail-style evening featuring bite-sized creations from 10 of our amazing food donor chefs—each one showcasing the power of generosity and culinary talent. Enjoy unlimited beer, wine, & N/A drinks as you mix, mingle, and celebrate a shared mission. Cash bar also available.

This year’s event promises to be our most inspiring yet, with an exciting silent and live auction, a heartfelt paddle raise, plus music and dancing to carry the night away! 

Gratitude to all of our sponsors including QUILITY, our Presenting Sponsor! Scroll down to see full list!

Note: Limited tickets available - this event always sells out!  

"Faith communities can have an important role easing the nation’s housing crisis"

~ by Mark Ferguson

What’s the role for faith communities in helping more of God’s children to secure safe and affordable housing?

That was the central question behind Thursday’s day-long Faith-Based Development Summit hosted by the City of Louisville, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation and the United Church of Christ Church Building & Loan Fund. The Goodwill Opportunity Center in West Louisville hosted more than 100 attendees, who heard from speakers and panels discussing lessons learned, financing and home repairs — and what churches can do to ease the nation’s housing crisis.

The first speaker at the interdenominational summit was the Rev. Mark Elsdon, a PC(USA) pastor, speaker and author who edited “Gone for Good? Negotiating the Coming Wave of Church Property Transition” and wrote “We Aren’t Broke: Uncovering Hidden Resources for Mission and Ministry.” Elsdon, who co-founded Rooted Good and is a principal at Threshold Development Group, has partnered with the PC(USA) on its Good Futures Accelerator Course.

Elsdon posed a provocative question at the outset, one he heard a few years back during a conference in San Antonio: Could we solve the affordable housing crisis with church land?

“Could church real estate improve income disparity and the lack of living-wage jobs?” he asked those in attendance. “I invite us to sit with this question all day today.”

A Wilder Way: Midwifing the World to Come in an Age of Extinction @ Dreaming Stone

Join us August 19th – 23rd as we chart a wilder path together through storytelling, skill-sharing, hands-on learning, songs, ritual, somatic practices, and homegrown feasts.

This five-day gathering features some of our most beloved and trusted colleagues. They are collaborating on a journey that will help us find our ground and gratitude, expand our connections and our capacities, and offer tools for building the bioregional and liberatory cultures that can sustain and serve our communities and watersheds. It's time to propagate alternatives!

We are making this event accessible, with worktrade and scholarship options, AND partial childcare and youth programming to support young families!!!

GCPC Nametags

If you are in need of a new nametag,

please email Anna Louise at annalouise@gcpcusa.org.