On a quiet block where Gordon Drive SE meets Jackson Street in Decatur, Alabama, a pair of bright red doors marks the entrance to St. John's Episcopal Church, a parish of roughly 225 families that has gathered for worship on this spot since 1893. St. John's is part of the Diocese of Alabama and the broader Episcopal Church, a province of the Anglican Communion. Its members describe themselves as a growing, loving congregation grounded in the Baptismal Covenant and shaped by a simple three-part motto: Love God. Love Neighbors. Love Yourself.
The parish's story is inseparable from the city's. Decatur, set on the Tennessee River in the foothills of the Appalachians, was laid out in 1820 as Rhodes Ferry and renamed for the naval hero Stephen Decatur; much of it was destroyed during the Civil War. St. John's predecessor, St. Paul's Episcopal Church, was organized in 1867 and burned down in 1888 during a yellow fever epidemic. A faction of roughly seventy-five newcomers eventually split off and signed articles of association in 1890 to become St. John's parish. In 1893, with their first rector, the Rev. Dr. Erastus Wooster Spalding, they built the limestone-veneer church where the parish still worships, and where generations of Decaturians have been baptized, married, and buried.
Worship on Sunday Mornings
Sunday at St. John's follows a rhythm that feels at once very Anglican and very much like a small, neighborly church. The 8:00 AM Holy Eucharist, Rite I is offered in the chapel, using the more traditional Elizabethan English of the older Book of Common Prayer with some music but no choir. The 10:30 AM Holy Eucharist, Rite II takes place in the main sanctuary with the full choir and contemporary language. A printed bulletin walks visitors through the standing, sitting, and kneeling, and the rector is quick to point out that none of these gestures are required. Wiggles and giggles in the pews are welcome and expected.
Between the two services, the parish eats together. A hot breakfast is served in the Parish Hall during the school year and a continental breakfast in the summer, prepared by Sunday Breakfast volunteers under the Food and Hospitality Coordinator, Melba Middleton. Choir rehearsal begins at 9:15 AM, and the nursery opens at the same time for children from eight weeks old through four-year-old pre-K, staffed by Rebecca Bailey and Callie Melick.
From 9:30 to 10:15 AM, formation happens for everyone. Children gather for Godly Play (a Montessori-style curriculum for K4 through third grade), Club 45 (fourth and fifth graders), or the EYC room (sixth through twelfth graders). Adults choose between a Lay-Led class in the Library and the Rector's Forum in the Parish Hall. After the service, the Lemonade and Cookies crew often greets people on the patio as they exit through the red doors.
The 10:30 AM Rite II service is also streamed live on the church's livestream page, on its YouTube channel, and on its Facebook page, making the parish accessible to homebound members and to anyone beyond Decatur.
The Wednesday Healing Eucharist in St. Mary's Chapel
One of the most beloved gatherings at St. John's happens at 12:10 PM on Wednesdays in St. Mary's Chapel. The midweek Holy Eucharist with Prayers for Healing and Anointing includes scripture readings, a homily, a litany for healing, and the Eucharist itself, and the service usually ends by 12:45 PM. Both parishioners and visitors attend, drawn by what the parish describes as a lovely and intimate service that welcomes anyone seeking prayer, reflection, or simply a quiet space in the middle of the week. On the first Wednesday of the month, the fellowship continues over a Dutch-treat lunch at a nearby restaurant.
Children, Youth, and Little Saints
St. John's invests heavily in its young people. The nursery cares for children from eight weeks old through four-year-old pre-K on Sunday mornings and at most special services, and offers occasional Parents' Nights Out. Children in K4 through third grade use the Godly Play approach to faith formation during Sunday school, while older children take part in Club 45 on Sundays and in Mission Wednesdays and seasonal programs.
During the 10:30 AM Rite II service, children in K4 through fifth grade are invited to follow a wooden cross out of the sanctuary during the Sequence Hymn and into the Little Saints Children's Chapel, where they experience an age-appropriate version of the liturgy. Led by adult and teen volunteers along with a member of the clergy, and accompanied by the children's song leader Lucy, the children process, share a Gospel story in child-friendly language, hear a short homily, complete a craft, recite a Children's Creed, and sing before returning to their families during the Peace. Seasonal Faith and Fun Take-Home Bags, Family Movie Nights, family field trips, Vacation Bible School, and craft parties round out the year.
Older youth, sixth through twelfth grade, make up the EYC (Episcopal Youth Community). They meet for Sunday school, gather for Rite 13 on the fourth Wednesday of each month, lead Youth Sundays, and pack food boxes for Meals on Wheels, fill Beans and Rice bags, and assemble backpacks for local schoolchildren. Recent social events have included fall lock-ins, Six Flags trips, laser tag and arcade outings, skiing, escape rooms, and pool parties. Confirmation preparation is offered each spring in the weeks leading up to the Bishop's annual visit.
Choir, Organ, and a Joyful Noise
Music at St. John's is led by Choirmaster Lauren Cantrell, with Foster Bailey at the organ and Joseph Fleetwood as assistant organist. The adult choir rehearses at 9:15 AM on Sunday mornings and sings for the 10:30 Rite II service, major feast days, and community events. The choir anchors traditions like Lessons and Carols and Christmas Eve, and provides the music for Holy Week services. No prior choral experience is required; the invitation is simply to come and lift a voice. The parish's 1981 organ and its stained glass windows, bell (hung in 1988), copper roof, and cloistered garden all contribute to a sanctuary that has been continuously shaped over more than a century.
Beans and Rice, Backpacks, and the Episcopal Center
St. John's has long defined outreach as something more than charity. Its motto frames it as the natural overflow of loving neighbor, and the parish commits significant time and money to that work. Each year, St. John's distributes roughly $51,000 to $60,000 in outreach grants to local nonprofits, and it provides rent-free space in the brick Episcopal Center building behind the church to two long-standing partners: the Community Free Clinic and Parents and Children Together (PACT). Calhoun Community College also uses the Parish Hall twice a week to teach English as a Second Language classes.
The parish's signature direct-service ministries are simple and steady. Backpacks of Food sends supplemental weekend nutrition home with sixty-six children at Banks-Caddell and Eastwood Elementary Schools during the school year, with bags including two breakfasts, three lunches, three dinners, and snacks. On the fourth Thursday of every month, the Beans and Rice Ministry distributes 120 bags of rice, beans, vegetables, apples, and laundry detergent pods from the covered drive on the Gordon Street side of the church, no questions asked. On the first Monday of each month, St. John's volunteers join ShowerUp Decatur at Hands Across Decatur from 9:30 to 11:30 AM to help provide showers and care to neighbors experiencing homelessness.
Other outreach efforts include the Singalongs, who visit a local nursing home once a month, and the Simply Divine Bake Sale, held the Saturday before Thanksgiving to raise funds for a local nonprofit. The parish also offers up to $50 in financial assistance to community members in crisis, paid directly to a business or service provider once every six months, and keeps a multilingual Community Resource guide in English, Spanish, and Kreyòl that lists hotlines, food pantries, shelters, childcare, employment support, healthcare, immigration legal aid, and more. Know-Your-Rights flyers from the Catholic Legal Immigration Network are available in English, Spanish, Kreyòl, French, Arabic, Dari, and Chinese.
The Common Ground Garden and Care for Creation
Stewardship of creation is taken seriously at St. John's. The Common Ground Garden, coordinated by Julia Chenault and Carol Hancock, is a community garden on the church grounds planted with native North Alabama species, irrigated and structured to support local ecosystems. The McKimmon Memorial Garden, named for the parish's longest-serving rector, serves as both a contemplative outdoor space and a resting place for the ashes of many parishioners, and is maintained by a small group of volunteers, some of whom also meet there for yoga.
The Stewardship of Creation Committee, chaired by Anne Ness, leads parish-wide efforts in sustainability and education. From the church's 2025 Annual Report forward, this work is described as part of the parish's call to be faithful stewards of the earth. Visitors are welcome to dig in.
Faith Formation for Every Age
Beyond Sunday morning, St. John's runs a robust formation calendar. The Rector's Bible Study meets at 10:00 AM on Wednesday mornings during the school year in the Library, currently working through Revelation, with Father Chase Ackerman leading conversation on context, theology, and meaning. A Balance Class meets Wednesday mornings to work on functional movement, and a Friday morning Yoga class is held in the parish's dedicated yoga room.
Two monthly gatherings anchor adult formation outside the church walls. Theology on Tap brings parishioners to The Brick on the first Thursday evening of each month for dinner and a theological conversation, while the Caregiver Support Group meets in the Library on the first Thursday of each month from 1:00 to 2:00 PM as a confidential space for those caring for loved ones. A Young Adults group for those in their twenties and thirties meets monthly for dinner, fellowship, and conversation, with childcare provided. The Women's Ministry hosts periodic book studies, and a women's book study has recently worked through titles like The Armor of God and Accidental Saints.
Cursillo and Reunion Groups
St. John's is one of the more active parishes in the Diocese of Alabama for Cursillo, the four-day Episcopal retreat held at Camp McDowell. Lay Rector Rob Getman and a team of parishioners help sponsor the weekends. After the retreat, the parish hosts four regular reunion groups: a Monday evening group in the Library at 5:00 PM, a Women's group on Wednesday mornings in the Club 45 Room, a Co-Ed group on Thursday afternoons at The Brick Deli, and a Men's group on Friday mornings at 7:00 AM in the Library. Open to anyone, not just Cursillo alumni, these groups follow the small-group model of prayer, study, and accountability.
The Holy Smokers, Lemonade and Cookies, and Parish Life
The social glue of the parish is its calendar of food. The Holy Smokers, a men's ministry chaired by Joe Propst, fires up the grills for events like the Annual Parish Picnic and the Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper. Sunday Breakfast is a year-round ministry, with hot offerings during the school year and a lighter continental spread in summer. After the 10:30 AM service, Lemonade and Cookies is waiting on the patio.
When parishioners face illness, hospitalization, or the loss of a loved one, three groups respond. The Thinking of You ministry delivers home-cooked meals, St. Ann's Guild provides a meal for families around a funeral, and Flower Deliverers take altar flowers from Sunday services to parishioners who could use a visit. The Guild of the Christ Child, chaired by nursery attendant Sam Hogwood, welcomes new babies with a small gift and a meal for the family. The Women's Ministry hosts the annual Simply Divine Bake Sale and gathers for book studies and retreats. Road Runners, the parish's 55-plus fellowship group coordinated by Bunny Edwards, plans monthly outings that have included tours of HudsonAlpha, movie afternoons, and visits to local historical sites.
Clergy, Staff, and Governance
The parish is led by the Rev. Chase D. Ackerman, who became rector in August 2019. A native of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, and a former Surface Warfare Officer in the U.S. Navy, Father Chase is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and the School of Theology at the University of the South in Sewanee. He previously served at St. John's Episcopal Church in Tampa, Florida. He and his wife Jeanne are raising their son Jonathan. The Rev. Rufus Van Horn joined as associate rector in 2026, after seminary at Sewanee and ordination in the Diocese of Mississippi. Before ordination he served as a monk with the Society of St. John the Evangelist in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and worked in banking in Tupelo.
The Rev. Sam Burcham serves as deacon and director of outreach and family ministries, overseeing the Backpacks of Food and Beans and Rice programs along with much of the parish's family and formation work for children and youth. Choirmaster Lauren Cantrell leads the music program with organists Foster Bailey and Joseph Fleetwood. Mary Coe is the communications director, and Vickie Reed serves as financial administrator.
The vestry is the parish's elected governing body. Senior Warden Julie Leavitt and Junior Warden Ann Stewart serve alongside vestry members whose three-year terms rotate through the congregation. Clerk Carol Sartain, Treasurer Stuart Tubb, and Assistant Treasurer Stan Evans round out the lay leadership. A planned giving committee, stewarded by Julia Roth, helps members arrange bequests, IRA and life insurance beneficiary designations, charitable gift annuities, and other legacy gifts.
Sacraments and Pastoral Care
St. John's celebrates the two great sacraments of the Episcopal Church - Holy Baptism and the Eucharist - along with confirmation, ordination, holy matrimony, reconciliation of a penitent, and unction. Baptisms are typically scheduled during one of the principal feasts: the Easter Vigil, the Day of Pentecost, All Saints' Day, or the Baptism of our Lord. The church welcomes all couples for Holy Matrimony, with at least one partner required to be a baptized Christian and premarital counseling with clergy expected of all couples. Reconciliation of a Penitent, or confession, follows the Episcopal teaching that all may, some should, and none must. Unction, the anointing of the sick, is offered through the weekly Wednesday healing Eucharist. Eucharistic Visitors, led by the deacon, take communion to those who are homebound.
Visiting St. John's
Visitors enter through the bright red doors at the corner of Gordon Drive and Jackson Street. There is a large parking lot behind the building, additional street parking, and parking in the NARCOG lot on Jackson Street. Several entrances are wheelchair accessible: an elevator on the Jackson Street side leads to the second floor, with ramps into the sanctuary, Parish Hall, and meeting rooms; two ramps on the Gordon Drive side provide access through the offices and the McKimmon Garden. Dress ranges from jeans to suits; whatever is comfortable is welcome.
The View, the parish's weekly email newsletter, goes out every Tuesday afternoon with upcoming service announcements and calendar items. Calendars, livestreams, and online giving through Realm are all available online, and a podcast version of the weekly service is published on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. For a first visit, the church encourages newcomers to fill out a Visitor Card so someone can follow up, and to come a few minutes early to find a pew, pick up a bulletin, and settle in.
Stepping Forward in Faith
St. John's has been gathering in Decatur for more than 130 years, but the parish talks more about its future than its past. Its annual reports describe a community still finding new ways to live out its three-part motto, still opening its building to those who need it most, and still welcoming anyone who comes through the red doors. Whether someone is searching for a spiritual home, looking for a place to serve, or simply curious about the Episcopal tradition, the parish offers a place at the table. The red doors are open.