By Grace Dunn

Mountain Brook Community Church is a nondenominational congregation founded in 1992 by six families. They met at Mountain Brook High School before they moved to their first location a former Latter-day Saints chapel on Montevallo Road in the heart of Mountain Brook (now St. Peter’s Anglican Church). The church experienced steady growth until it moved to its current location on Highway 280, allowing people from Mountain Brook, Vestavia Hills, and Birmingham to become more aware of the congregation. The senior pastor, Tim Kallam, has been on staff and leading the congregation for twenty-six years. They have a large campus that has many different spaces for their different ministries, including a beautiful sanctuary with dark wood accents and a cross above the center platform. They also have a state-of-the-art youth space that has allowed them to keep students more engaged.

Having these spaces allows for them to reach a larger number of people and ‘increase their territory’ as mentioned in 1 Chronicles 4:10. When they purchased their current campus they had a unique opprotunity to renovate it and make it their own, without the cost of having to build it from the ground up. Their current location was previously the home of Southeastern Bible College, and had a lot of the structures already built. (It was originally the home of Briarwood Presbyterian Church.)

Importance of Worship

The congregation has a unique make-up for a nondenominational congregation compared to what you may think of when you think of such a congregation. Many would assume a nondenominational congregation would be made up of many people of younger generations, and that the music would be loud and all contemporary. Contrary to these assumptions, Mountain Brook Community Church is multigenerational. This is a result of the blended and welcoming worship that they offer.

The songs within their services have a wide range of styles that allow for something for everyone. They lean more towards contemporary styles, but they also allow room for more traditional style songs to be included in their services. They normally include three or four contemporary songs like such as “Living Hope,” “Faith More Precious Than Gold,” or “Sovereign Over Us.” They also include one or two more traditional songs like “How Deep the Father’s Love,” “How Great Thou Art,” or “All Sufficient Merit.” While songs like “All Sufficient Merit” are modern hymns that have been written in the past few years, they still fit the model of traditional hymns, and they have simple melodies that are easy for congregations to follow.

The music of the service is relatively contemporary, but not overly produced. They have a violinist in their worship team, which helps to give it more of a bluegrass type of style. The week that I attended in person, they finished the service with the traditional Irish hymn, “Be Thou My Vision.” While the arrangement was relatively contemporary, the words of the song were unchanged. This style helps to bring together all the generations that worship in this church. Their congregation has a wide variety of attendees, from newborns to the elderly. There are also a lot of families that attend. They have lots of younger and middle-aged families and couples in attendance, but they also have a good number of older people. The worshippers are similar to Southern Baptist worshippers in the way that they do not move much during their worship. They move a bit more freely, but they are still more confined than most non-denominational churches are. 

Creating An Environment of Intentional Worship

The service was very well thought out in how it invited people into worship. Creating an environment that allows for intentional and thought-out worship is difficult to do most of the time, especially within intergenerational and interdenominational congregations. The worship leader is tasked with ensuring that everyone is kept “happy,” which is an extremely challenging task at times. I think that their service did an excellent job of allowing space for people to have an intimate moment with the Lord.

While they are considered non-denominational, they don’t use a bunch of crazy lights and smoke. They do not go over the top with their tech, which follows along with the ‘bluegrass’ and ‘acoustic’ feel they have their services. Their space has wood accents on the walls, and they use minimal lights, which allows for a more welcoming and low-pressure environment for many people. A low-pressure environment is what a lot of the younger generations are more drawn to within worship settings today, because they feel so much pressure from all other aspects of their lives.

I think it is also very praiseworthy to note and look at the music that they include each week. They stick to slightly more contemporary stuff, but they still include some more traditional or blended styles each week. I think this helps lean into the mission of the church and helps the congregation to be more well-rounded within their worship styles and preferences. It is a beautiful thing for every generation to be able to worship together in the same room at the same time, and that is a thing that, unfortunately, a lot of other churches have a difficult time accomplishing.

Conclusion

Overall, Mountain Brook Community Church is a welcoming environment that has created a space that allows people of all ages and backgrounds to worship together in a common space. The large staff that the church allows them to reach a large scope of people, including children, youth, college students, women, active adults, etc. They have also been able to have a large impact on the community because of their location on Highway 280, which allows people to easily identify their location. They emphasize allowing space for individual growth and faith growth, and truly desire for each person who comes into their church to leave a better person and to have grown deeper in their faith.

Mountain Brook Community Church, Sunday Worship
Address:  3001 US-280, Birmingham, AL 35243
Services Observed:  Sunday Worship 11:00, March 9, 2025 (in person), March 26, 2025 (online)
Website: https://www.mbcc.us

References

Mountain Brook Community Church Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/MBCCnews. Accessed 28 Apr. 2025.

Mountain Brook Community Church Sermons. Mountain Brook Community Church, www.mbcc.us/media/sermons/. Accessed 28 Apr. 2025.

Grace Dunn ‘26 was a student in Christian Worship: History & Theology in Samford University’s Department of Biblical and Religious Studies in spring 2025.

Published June 13, 2025.