First United Methodist Church
First United Methodist Church of Birmingham (originally the First Methodist Episcopal Church South) is located at 518 19th Street North in downtown. The senior pastor is Keith D. Thompson.
The church first met in January 1872 in the Bryant House, a storehouse at First Avenue and 21st Street North. From their early days, the church fought poor sanitary conditions and disease, clothed and fed the poor, and was a catalyst for the City Board of Missions. The church has worshiped at four different locations.
In 1891, First United Methodist built the sanctuary it uses to the current day. The church, now on the National Register of Historic Places, was designed the in American Romanesque Revival style of architecture. It was designed by George Kramer of Weary and Kramer, an Akron, Ohio architect known for his church designs, and built of Ohio brownstone. The Gilreath-Decker Construction Company was the builder, and the cost exceeded $160,000. A marble baptismal font by Tiffany & Company of New York was purchased for the building.
The current entry lobby was originally an Akron plan Sunday School with an assembly room and two levels of classrooms. In 1909 First Methodist pioneered the use of individual cups to serve communion wine as a means of discouraging the spread of disease.
The church added an administration building in 1921, an office and chapel building in 1950, and an education building in 1964. The sanctuary underwent a major renovation beginning in 1972, part of which included cutting a new entrance into the rear of the original sanctuary building.
First United Methodist Church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
Pastors
- Clovis Chappell, 1933
- Keith D. Thompson, current
References
- Century of Worship: 1872-1972 (1972) Birmingham: First United Methodist Church/Oxmoor Press
- Schorrenberg, John M. and Janice Ford-Freeman, "Enduring Grace-Birmingham's Historic Downtown Churches," in Walking Tours of Birmingham Churches Conducted from 1990 to 1999, Birmingham Historical Society - accessible in Sterne Library, UAB.
External links
- First United Methodist Church website
- First United Methodist Church on Facebook
- First United Methodist Church on Twitter