Canterbury United Methodist Church sits on Overbrook Road in Birmingham, a broad-shouldered United Methodist congregation whose motto - real grace and real love in the midst of real life - sets the tone for everything from its three Sunday services to its on-campus dementia respite program and the free library it runs for people behind bars. Bishop Mike Watson serves as Bishop in Residence, and Senior Pastor Keith Thompson leads a pastoral cabinet and a deep bench of ministry directors who oversee children, youth, adults, seniors, music, outreach, and two preschools.
From Union Hill in 1867 to a Sanctuary Built in 1961
Canterbury's story stretches back to 1867, when a small group of believers began meeting together and the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church assigned a pastor to the growing flock. They called it Union Hill Methodist Church. After decades of leadership by several pastors, Union Hill merged with Mountain Brook Methodist Church and the combined congregation was formally named Canterbury United Methodist Church on October 10, 1948. Both churches relocated to the present Overbrook Road campus in 1952, when the first building was dedicated on September 9, 1952. The current sanctuary, which seats about 1,000, was built in 1961. Two columbaria on the grounds serve members who want their final resting place at Canterbury.
Three Sunday Services, One Congregation
Canterbury offers three distinct Sunday morning worship services, each shaped to a different temperament but gathered under one roof and one pulpit.
New Traditions meets at 8:15 AM in the Chapel. The service is intimate and liturgical: a wide variety of practices are shared, the Psalms and the Lord's Prayer are chanted, there is a time of welcome and Passing the Peace, the Gospel is preached, and Holy Communion is offered every week. The music comes from Canterbury's talented choir.
Sanctuary Worship fills the larger sanctuary at 10:30 AM. The service opens with a processional hymn, includes an Affirmation of Faith and a time shared with the children, and carries worshipers through prayers, scripture, a sermon, and the music of the magnificent choir.
Contemporary Worship also begins at 10:30 AM, but in the Canterbury Center rather than the sanctuary. The hour is upbeat and relaxed. Band-led worship songs with lyrics that speak truth set the tone, followed by prayer, a children's moment, sermon, and reflection.
All three services are livestreamed on the church's YouTube channel, with replays available afterward, and archives going back through the Sermon Archives page. Online giving is available through Fellowship One, and a weekly email called The Connection keeps the wider congregation current between Sundays. A quarterly print magazine, The Canterburian, features deeper stories from the life of the church.
What to Expect When You Arrive
Visitors follow signs to guest parking at the main entrance, where Welcome Guides meet them, help locate the right worship service or Sunday School class, and walk first-timers where they need to go. A Valet Ministry is available at the covered entrance to the Chapel for people with mobility needs - there are no fees and no tips. No one is asked to stand up, give money, or be singled out as a guest.
All children are welcome in worship. Worship Activity Bags with coloring pages are available, and parents with fussy little ones can step into children's rooms at the back of each worship space. Nursery care is provided for children from six weeks through four years during all regularly scheduled Sunday services, with a computer check-in system at the Kids' Check-in Station on the second floor of the Children's Building. The dress code is whatever visitors are most comfortable wearing - suits and casual clothes both appear.
Kids@Canterbury: From Nursery Through Sixth Grade
Children's Ministry at Canterbury begins at birth. Nursery hours on Sunday run from 8:00 to 11:30 AM, with paid, life-safety-trained staff grouped by age. Sunday School for preschoolers (2K through 4K), elementary (5K through 3rd grade), and the RISE ministry for fourth through sixth graders all meet from 9:15 to 10:15 AM on the second floor of the Children's Building.
On Wednesday nights during the school year, all Kids@Canterbury gather from 6:00 to 7:00 PM. Programming includes Joyful Noise, a parent-and-baby music experience for the youngest; Bible study and singing for 3K through 5K; games and Bible study for first through third graders; and RISE gatherings for fourth through sixth graders, who on the first Wednesday of each month travel to Brookdale to spend time with Canterbury's seniors. The children's choirs, which run from 3K through third grade, rehearse on Wednesday nights and sing during Sunday morning services. Safety is taken seriously: every staff member and volunteer is background checked, two adults are present in every room, and entry to the Children's Building is secured and guarded.
Faith Milestones mark a child's growth with the congregation. The 5K milestone, the 3rd Grade Bible presentation during worship, the 4K Faith Milestone on prayer, the 1st Grade Faith Milestone on baptism, and the Baby Milestone on family faith practices at home are all woven into the year. Eleanor Christiansen directs Children's Ministry, supported by assistant directors Breana Stallings and Maddie Moravek.
YAC: Youth at Canterbury
The youth ministry at Canterbury goes by YAC, short for Youth At Canterbury, and serves students in grades 7 through 12. Junior High and Senior High are treated as distinct groups because the transitions look so different.
Confirmation is anchored in seventh grade. Confirmands spend a year exploring the tenets of the Christian faith and what it means to be a United Methodist, culminating in a public commitment on Confirmation Sunday. A parallel Sunday School class is offered for parents of confirmands.
The weekly rhythm of YAC includes Sunday School at 9:15 AM in the Youth Center, MYF on Sunday evenings from 5:00 to 6:45 PM in Canterbury Hall (games, worship, a message, and small groups), and MidWeek on Wednesday nights from 6:00 to 7:00 PM, when the group splits into Junior High and Senior High for a more in-depth Bible study. Tuesday mornings bring the Junior High Breakfast Club at 7:00 AM with Chick-fil-A biscuits, while Senior High AM on Tuesday mornings meets at Crestline Bagel in Cahaba Heights.
Retreats and trips include the Journey Retreat each fall at Shocco Springs, the Lake Martin weekend for Senior High, the Junior High Adventure Trip to the Nantahala Outdoor Center in North Carolina, and the Magic City Work Week, a week-long Birmingham mission trip during which students stay at UAB and partner with Urban Ministry to paint houses in the West End community. Scholarships are available for most YAC trips. Gann Waters-Wright directs the ministry, with Eleanor Kerr as assistant director and Davis Plowden as coordinator.
Young Adults, Brew Theology, and Wednesday Nights
Matthew Montgomery pastors Canterbury's young adult ministry, which gathers through Sunday School classes for twenty-somethings, small group studies on Tuesday nights, and Brew Theology on the third Tuesday of each month - an off-campus gathering at either Hi-Wire or Good People where any topic in theology is fair game. Past questions have ranged from Purpose and Charity to Afterlife and Prayer.
The wider Adult Discipleship program explodes into motion on Wednesday evenings. Dinner is served from 5:00 to 7:00 PM in Canterbury Hall - $10 for adults, $7 for youth and kids, and a $30 family maximum - and from 6:00 to 7:00 PM a sweep of Bible study classes meet across the campus. Recent offerings have included Old Testament studies of Genesis, Judges, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Ruth, and Nehemiah, as well as electives on Methodist Hymns led by Choirmaster Lester Seigel and a study called The After Party on discipleship and citizenship led by Tom Owens and Bill Morgan. A weekday Bible study calendar runs from a 6:30 AM Men's Bible Study with Hill Carmichael on the second and fourth Thursdays through evening groups like the KnitWits, who gather to knit and pray over prayer shawls for people in need across the city.
SAGE Adults: Where Seniors Lead
SAGE - Senior Adults Giving and Engaging - is Canterbury's ministry for adults 65 and older, with a mission to embrace the journey of aging, foster intergenerational relationships, and continue to strive for a healthy spirit-filled life. Valerie Boyd is the executive director.
The flagship program is Encore Community Respite Ministry, a day program for adults living with memory loss and early-to-moderate dementia, designed to give caregivers a true break. Encore runs Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM, and welcomes people of all faith backgrounds from Birmingham and surrounding communities. Each day weaves creative and cultural arts, fitness, intellectual stimulation, civic service, social connection, and spiritual enrichment into a schedule adapted to the individual strengths of the participants. A short devotion or inspirational thought opens each day, and short worship experiences with communion are offered monthly. Patti Williams serves as program director, supported by Kristen Snell as family resources director. Encore has its own admission criteria - participants must be able to eat without assistance, manage their own bathroom needs, walk with or without a cane, walker, or rollator, and feel comfortable in a social group setting - and prospective families are invited to schedule a consultation.
Around Encore, SAGE offers a Caregiver Support Group open to the entire Birmingham community, the Legacy Luncheon each month with food prepared by Canterbury's chef, the Canterbury Fitness class meeting Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings at 8:30, a homebound Canterbury Care Team that visits members wherever they live, and a Homebound Communion ministry for members in the hospital or at home.
Books to Prisons: A Library Behind Bars
One of the most distinctive outreaches at Canterbury is Books to Prisons, which began in August 2021 as a non-profit organization sending free books to incarcerated individuals across Texas and Alabama. The ministry grew so quickly that it now has its own library and distribution center housed inside the church building, staffed by dedicated volunteers who organize donations, sort books, and ship weekly packages. In October 2024 alone, more than 400 packages were shipped - roughly 1,200 books in a single month. Incarcerated readers request titles ranging from philosophy and astronomy to novels by Stephen King, and Books to Prisons affirms each person's enduring worth and continuing stake in the world by responding personally to every letter.
The ministry is supported by giving, an Amazon Wish List, and a dedicated email at givebookstoprisons@gmail.com.
Outreach Partners Across Birmingham
Beyond Books to Prisons, Canterbury's Outreach Team - led by Director Rachel Estes - works through a network of local partners:
- Avondale Samaritan Place - a joint ministry with Avondale UMC that addresses food, housing, and elderly-assistance needs in the Avondale community through the Avondale Food Co-op and Beeson Senior Services. Canterbury hosts Christmas Village here each December, a pop-up store where parents can shop for new toys at affordable prices.
- Firehouse Shelter - Canterbury serves three meals a month at Firehouse Ministries: dinner on the first and third Tuesdays, and lunch on the fourth Monday.
- Church of the Reconciler - volunteers prepare quarts of Santa Fe Soup at home and drop them off at Canterbury to be stored in a freezer and delivered to the Reconciler each Tuesday.
- Meals on Wheels - the team delivers to Villa Maria five days a week, Freedom Manor twice a week, and runs a frozen-meal route once a week.
- STAIR - one-on-one tutoring for second graders to improve reading skills and self-esteem over a 16-week program.
Seasonal opportunities include the Easter Basket project benefiting Children's Harbor, Avondale Samaritan Place, and King's Home, and a Prison Birthday Card Ministry that sends personalized cards to incarcerated men and women around their birthdays. Annual Mission Trips have sent teams to Guatemala and a 2027 trip is planned to Nakuru, Kenya, partnering with Start With One Kenya on education and water filtration projects.
Pastoral Care for Tough Seasons
Canterbury's Care ministry walks alongside members through difficult seasons with several named programs. Grief Care is a six-session series of listening, sharing, and tools for navigating grief. Stephen Ministry pairs trained lay members one-on-one with people going through hard times for about an hour each week, in confidential, high-quality Christian care. The Alzheimer's and Dementia Support Group meets Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 10:00 AM and is open to the whole Birmingham community.
The church office also keeps a list of trusted resource partners - United Counseling, the Amelia Center for grieving children and teens, One Place Family Justice Center for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, YWCA Central Alabama, Start Your Recovery, Birmingham Alcoholics Anonymous, Al-Anon, the UAB Addiction Recovery Program, and Sex Addicts Anonymous.
Two Preschools on Campus
Canterbury operates two early childhood programs, both housed on the Overbrook Road campus and both open to church members and the surrounding community.
The Child Development Center (CDC) is an accredited member of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). It serves children from six weeks to five years in a Christ-centered environment using The Creative Curriculum and Teaching Strategies Gold for assessment. Hours run Monday through Friday from 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Tuition ranges from $1,250 to $1,375 per month depending on age, with a one-time $75 application fee, an annual $150 supply fee, and a refundable $200 security deposit. Amanda Payne directs the CDC.
Canterbury Day School is a half-day preschool for children ages two through five, with Mother's Day Out options, 3K, 4K, and 5K classes, weekly chapel and music, computer lab time, and a curriculum built around cognitive, language, self, math, and motor skill development. Tuition for the 2026-2027 school year runs from $275 per month for Mother's Day Out through $510 per month for 5K, with a $225 registration fee. Julie Smith directs the Day School.
United Methodist Women and Men's Ministry
United Methodist Women (UMW), the official women's organization of the United Methodist Church founded in 1869, has a particularly active presence at Canterbury. Members support local and global mission projects through hands-on work, study, and fundraising for scholarships and grants. UMW members meet once a month in small groups called circles, with day, evening, and circles-with-childcare options. Anne Ruzic serves as president. A 2026 UMW Member Directory is available to members.
Canterbury's Men's Ministry gathers for periodic breakfasts featuring staff speakers and partners.
Weddings, Funerals, and a Place to Belong
The sanctuary seats about 1,000 and the chapel seats 120, and both have the long center aisle many brides envision. Weddings at Canterbury are worship services first, presided over by Canterbury-related pastors who are confident the couple has been prepared through premarital counseling. The Wedding Director, Ann Vaughan, walks couples through the full process using the United Methodist Book of Worship. A Wedding Handbook, a Wedding Application, and separate photographer and florist agreements for both the sanctuary and the chapel are available.
For end-of-life care, the Funerals ministry offers a Funeral Pre-Planning Guide and a Funeral Service Brochure based on the United Methodist Book of Worship. Members are encouraged to record their wishes and keep a copy with their personal papers while leaving a copy in the church office in strict confidence. Memorial services can be livestreamed. Canterbury also operates two columbaria on the grounds, coordinated by Clare Mallette.
Lay Leadership and Financial Stewardship
Canterbury's 2026 lay leaders include Lay Leader Jamie Dabal, Church Council Chair Ralph Sorrell, Church Council Co-Chair Callie Whatley, Finance Chair Buzz Coons, Staff-Parish Relations Chair Paul Roberts, and Trustees and Foundation Board Chair Scott Selman. Committee chairs lead teams in Traditional Worship, Outreach, the Lucille Beeson Trust, Kids@Canterbury, Youth Ministry, SAGE Ministry, and Communications.
Members and friends can give online, by mail, or by texting any amount to 205.336.2111. Giving supports a wide mission and ministry operating budget, and the Canterbury United Methodist Church Foundation - established in 1991 - manages endowed and deferred gifts in perpetuity through lifetime trusts and gift annuities, will appointments, residuary bequests, retirement accounts, charitable remainder trusts, and life insurance policies. The Foundation's corpus is preserved; only the investment return is spent.
Beliefs and Welcome
Canterbury is a United Methodist congregation in the North Alabama Conference, grounded in the historic practices of the denomination. The church describes itself in three words - real grace, real love, real life - and frames Christian life around Scripture study, close relationships, education, and caring for those inside and outside the church body. Members, guests, and seekers of every background are invited to come as they are.
Henri Nouwen's line, "hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place," and the Pathways Sunday School class is a proud member of the Reconciling Ministries Network, which equips and mobilizes United Methodists of all sexual orientations and gender identities to resist evil, injustice, and oppression.
Communication, Music, and Media
Music at Canterbury is led by Choirmaster and Organist Lester Seigel, who also teaches a Wednesday-night class on Methodist Hymns, and by Natalie Moon, who oversees contemporary worship and adult discipleship. The Canterbury Cast podcast carries conversations with ministry partners and Canterbury leaders - including episodes on Books to Prisons, Christmas Village, parenting, the Patchwork, Alabama project, and the tenth anniversary of Encore. Sermon archives going back years are available online, and The Connection weekly email plus the printed Canterburian magazine round out the church's regular communication.
Visiting Canterbury
Worship is the front door, and Canterbury keeps it wide open. Sunday mornings bring three services - New Traditions in the Chapel at 8:15 AM, Sanctuary Worship in the sanctuary at 10:30 AM, and Contemporary Worship in the Canterbury Center at 10:30 AM. Wednesday nights from 6:00 to 7:00 PM add a full menu of Bible studies for every age, with dinner beforehand. The church office is open Monday through Thursday from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM and on Friday from 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM. Visitors with questions about a first visit can contact Pastor Matthew Montgomery; questions about membership or joining Canterbury can be directed to Becky King.