Three Words That Shape Everything
Faith Presbyterian Church sits on Valleydale Road in southern Birmingham, in the part of Jefferson County where suburbs give way to the rolling hills that mark the edge of the Cahaba valley. From its campus, the congregation has organized itself around a single short statement: "At Faith Presbyterian Church, we seek to exalt Jesus Christ and to exhibit and extend His kingdom through worship, community, and mission." Those three words - worship, community, mission - repeat through everything the church does, from the order of a Sunday morning to the missionaries it sends overseas.
Faith Presbyterian is part of the Presbyterian Church in America, the evangelical and Reformed tradition that traces its roots to the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms. The church describes itself as evangelical in conviction and Presbyterian in government, governed by a session of elders and supported by a deep bench of deacons.
The Sunday Rhythm
A typical Sunday at Faith begins early. Worship services are held at 8:15 a.m. and 11:00 a.m., and both services are livestreamed on YouTube for those who cannot be in the room. The two Sunday morning services share the same pulpit but offer members a choice based on their week and family schedule.
Between those services, at 9:45 a.m., the church shifts into what it calls Kingdom Communities. These are small groups - called KCs - that meet across the campus every Sunday morning for an hour of teaching, fellowship, and prayer. KCs are organized for every stage of life: children through seniors gather in age-appropriate groups, including adult communities built around shared geography or season of life. The church teaches that the Christian life is meant to be lived in close community, and the Kingdom Communities hour is the primary place that happens on a Sunday.
Evenings at Faith are just as full. At 5:30 p.m., adult and children's ministries, plus the nursery, open for Sunday evening programs, with Kid's Catechism for the children during fall and spring. At the same hour, Faith Student Ministries launches its FSM @ Night programming for junior high, with the senior-high gathering following at 7:00 p.m.. The evening services are loud by design - the students describe them as a time for dynamic worship, encouraging gospel teaching, and a lot of fun.
For those who are sick, traveling, or otherwise away, both morning services are broadcast live and archived on Faith's YouTube channel. A weekly bulletin is uploaded before each service so worshipers can follow along at home.
Foundations of Faith and the Membership Path
Becoming a member of Faith Presbyterian is treated as a deliberate, twelve-week journey. The steps are spelled out clearly for visitors who want to know what joining would involve.
It begins by attending a Kingdom Community for several weeks. Then comes Foundations of Faith, a three-Sunday class that meets during the 9:45 a.m. hour. In Foundations, attendees meet the pastors and elders, are introduced to what the church believes and why, and study the five membership vows together. The class is offered three times a year.
After Foundations, prospective members complete a membership information form and a written Christian testimony. They then meet with a pair of elders - meetings are scheduled on Sundays or Wednesdays and typically run about thirty minutes. Finally, new members publicly profess their faith in a worship service and affirm the five membership vows before the congregation. Church Administrator Russ Herren and Director of Community Adam Shields walk each new member through the process.
For those curious about Christianity but not yet ready to join, Foundations of Faith is open to anyone who wants to learn more. Singles, married couples, and parents of older children are all welcome.
FaithKids and Sprouts: From Cradle Through Sixth Grade
Children's ministry is one of the largest and most structured areas of the church. The nursery welcomes children from newborn through age four, with the goal of making sure every child's first impression of church is full of love, grace, and delight. First-time visitors are greeted at a welcome desk by the nursery director on duty; parents can park in the lower parking lot and enter through the Main Entrance on the left side of the building, which opens directly into the nursery and children's wing.
Steve Hood leads the children's ministry team as FaithKids Director. Monica Merrill oversees Early Childhood as a separate director, with the nursery reporting into her. Missy Smith coordinates the ministry for children with disabilities, ensuring that no family has to choose between Sunday morning and meeting their child's needs.
For kindergarten through sixth grade, Kingdom Kids is the Sunday school program. The curriculum is drawn primarily from Great Commission Publications, with the explicit aim of showing children that all of Scripture - Old and New Testaments - points to Jesus and His work of redemption. Kingdom Kids meets during the 9:45 a.m. Kingdom Communities hour.
On Sunday evenings during the school year, Kingdom Kids continues with pizza, music, games, and teaching. The program rotates between The Biggest Story Curriculum and The New City Catechism, giving children a steady diet of biblical theology presented in their own vocabulary.
Sprouts is the church's weekday program for younger children, offering a loving, safe, and secure atmosphere during the week and a supportive ministry to parents and families in the broader community.
All children's and student ministries volunteers - new and returning - are required to complete a four-step process that includes an application and references, an acknowledgement of policies and procedures, sexual abuse awareness training, and a national criminal background check. The church keeps these policies public so families can read them.
Faith Student Ministries: Seventh Through Twelfth Grade
Faith Student Ministries (known simply as FSM) is the umbrella for everything that happens with students from seventh grade through senior year. Patrick Bush directs the team, supported by Laura Brantley and a small group of gender- and grade-specific coordinators.
FSM has three weekly rhythms built around the same Sunday architecture as the rest of the church. At 9:45 a.m., junior-high and senior-high students meet in their own Kingdom Communities for casual time together and engaging teaching from God's Word. At 5:30 p.m., junior high gathers for FSM @ Night, with senior high following at 7:00 p.m.. These evening services run about ninety minutes and are structured around worship, teaching, and small groups.
During the school year, students also meet in small groups during the week. JrHi small groups and SrHi D-Groups - named for the word "discipleship" - focus on prayer, accountability, care, and teaching. They are organized by gender and follow the school calendar.
Once a year, the students pack up for the FSM Fall Retreat, held at Camp ToKnowHim in Pisgah, Alabama. The weekend mixes dynamic worship, gospel teaching, small-group time, and recreation, and is widely treated as a high point of the ministry year.
Adult Life Together: KCs, Grace Groups, and More
For adults, Faith runs two parallel layers of community. The first is the Kingdom Community, the Sunday morning small group that nearly every member calls home. KCs are the basic unit of discipleship and care at Faith; newcomers are encouraged to find one that fits their season of life.
The second layer is the Grace Group. Grace Groups meet at various times throughout the week and are designed to help members live out the grace of the gospel in everyday life. They start every August and conclude in May, mirroring the academic calendar, with groups for women, men, and co-ed. Adam "Bully" Shields is the staff point of contact for those looking to join one.
For young adults, House-to-House is a once-a-month ministry in which families in the church open their homes on Sunday lunch to host young adults. The point is intergenerational connection - a shared meal that brings together people who might otherwise spend the day in different rooms.
Women's ministry, directed by Amy Henry with Heather Conner as assistant director, runs the deepest calendar of any adult group at Faith. Highlights include Faith Women's Hometown Dinners, where small groups of six to ten women gather in homes across the area; a Summer Study on Tuesday evenings and Wednesday mornings during June and July; Stitched Together, a stitching and fellowship gathering; the Women's Christmas Dinner; and a winter retreat that alternates between in-town and out-of-town locations. The women's ministry has a long-running partnership with Grace House in Fairfield, Alabama.
The men's ministry also gathers throughout the year for study, fellowship, and service. Adam Shields staffs both men's and women's ministry alongside the women's directors.
For those walking through grief, Faith hosts GriefShare, a thirteen-week support group led by trained facilitators who have themselves experienced loss. GriefShare at Faith is coordinated through Pete Jackson. For families affected by addiction, the church supports and refers to Unbound Grace, an addiction counseling ministry founded by John Steakley, a Faith member since 2017.
A Network of Mission Partners Near and Far
Mission is the third pillar of the church's identity, and Faith supports a remarkably broad network of missionaries and ministries - in some of the most concentrated mission sending among Presbyterian churches in the Southeast.
The mission team, directed by Johnny Johnson with Maggie Burrow coordinating from the children's side, frames its work around four verbs: pray, give, prepare, and go. Every member is encouraged to participate in all four.
In the Birmingham area, the church walks closely with several partners in Fairfield, the inner-ring suburb just west of downtown. Urban Hope Community Church, a PCA church plant, is supported as a sister congregation. Grace House Ministries provides residential and transitional care for Alabama girls in foster care. Restoration Academy, a Christ-centered K-12 school serving lower-income families in Fairfield, has been a steady partner for years. Manifold Vision and Urban Hope Development extend the church's investment in the same community. Sav-A-Life Shelby, a pregnancy resource center in Pelham, is supported through volunteers and prayer.
Across Alabama, Faith partners with a dozen Reformed University Fellowship ministers at Auburn, Samford, the University of Alabama, UAB, Jacksonville State, Howard, Washington University in St. Louis, and the University of Nebraska. These campus ministers reach students from Birmingham and surrounding states, and the church resources their work as part of its sending strategy.
Globally, Faith has relationships with more than thirty missionaries and ministries. The largest single cluster is in Central and Eastern Europe: the Czech Republic (Miriam Grady in Prague, René and Renata Drapalovi with the Maják Network in Zlín), Bulgaria (Lizzy Cary, Taylor and Katherine Dix), Hungary (Joel and Eszti Richards with UFM Worldwide), Greece (Argyris and Dina Petrou with AMG International, Mark and Anastasia Petrou with Child Evangelism Fellowship), and Germany. Faith also partners with the Birmingham Collective through Andy Weatherley at Grace Church Stirchley in England and supports the church planting movement there.
Other global partners include work in Thailand through Mission to the World, Honduras, Belize, France, Poland, Japan, and the Middle East. Third Millennium Ministries (Thirdmill), the multimedia seminary curriculum provider, is supported as a partner, as is the Maják Network across the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Lifeline Children's Services, an adoption and foster-care organization operating in more than fifteen countries, has long-standing ties to Faith.
Three theological commitments shape the church's mission sending: the gospel of grace, the importance of the church, and a reformed and covenantal approach to mission. Faith also partners with the Daughters of Bulgaria, a ministry to women caught in exploitation and trafficking, through Katherine Dix and the Rose Garden Program she helped develop.
Pastoral Leadership
The pastoral team is led by Jason Sterling, Senior Pastor. Martin Wagner serves as Executive Pastor; Carl Smith is Senior Assistant Pastor; Braxton Baker is Assistant Pastor of Discipleship and Formation; and Chris Duncan is a Pastoral Resident. Alan Carter, now Pastor Emeritus, remains connected to the congregation and continues to assist with mission engagement. The Elders - the church's session - includes Steve Ankenbrandt, Dicky Barlow, Bryan Becker, John Benner, David Breland, Clay Conner, Jerry Grant, Bradley Moore, Mike Murphy, Andrew Murray, Randy Pigg, Karl Potts, Hal Shepherd, Adam Shields, Andy Smith, Scotty Stanford, John Stein, and Tyler Whitson. A board of Deacons, twenty-four men strong, handles mercy ministry and the practical care of the congregation.
Around the pastors, a deep staff carries out the work of the church. Kirk Sauers is Music Director with Ruth Baldwin as Pianist and Sarah Remetich as Choir Director; David Crabtree directs the technical side of services; Bill Boutwell is Facilities Manager; and Susan Beason directs finance. Aubrie Allen is Operations Director, Jennifer Strickland and Lisbeth Chapman provide executive and pastoral administrative support, and Rebekka Cunningham is the church's receptionist. The church gives online through Pushpay.
Visiting Faith
For first-time guests, the church has tried to make the morning simple. Sunday morning worship is offered at 8:15 and 11:00 a.m. in the main sanctuary. Both services are livestreamed for those who prefer to participate from home. The 9:45 a.m. Kingdom Communities hour is a good entry point for newcomers - it is the easiest place to meet people and to be introduced to the rhythms of the church without the formality of a worship service.
Families with young children will find the nursery opens at 8:00 a.m. for the early service and is staffed through the morning. Parents bringing nursery-age children are encouraged to use the lower parking lot and the Main Entrance on the left side of the building, which opens into the children's wing. For first-time nursery visits, the church recommends bringing at least two disposable diapers per child, a pacifier or comfort item, a bottle or sippy cup, and a change of clothes.
Older children, kindergarten through sixth grade, attend Kingdom Kids at 9:45 a.m. On Sunday evenings during the school year, FaithKids runs its pizza-and-catechism program at 5:30 p.m. Junior-high and senior-high students have their own programs at 9:45 a.m., 5:30 p.m., and 7:00 p.m.
The church office is open Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The phone number is (205) 991-5430. Mailing address: 4601 Valleydale Road, Birmingham, AL 35242. For those who want to keep up with the church between Sundays, a weekly newsletter called The Pilgrimage arrives each Friday; the music team posts recordings on YouTube and Vimeo, and the sermon archive includes each week's message.
Faith Presbyterian Church describes itself as a family of worship, community, and mission. On any given Sunday, that description looks like two morning services, a campus full of small groups, students singing in the evening, and a congregation that has committed itself to pray, give, prepare, and go - both across the street in Fairfield and across the world.