By Emily Williams
When Dr. Henry Edmonds walked across the street from South Highland Presbyterian Church Oct. 24, 1915, and was offered a space to worship with his followers at Temple Emanu-El, he began a church that has stood the test of time.
Independent Presbyterian Church is recognizing its centennial this year, a milestone officials attribute to the importance the church places on social action and support of the Birmingham community.
The church’s resident “chief elf,” Cathy Adams, who literally wrote the book on IPC in the publication “Forward in Faith,” said the beauty of the church is that it has changed with the times while still holding fast to its original message, which stresses the importance of community outreach.
“Our primary goal through our local missions is to be in relationships in the community with people in need, but in an empowering way,” said the Rev. Susan Clayton, director of community ministries.
Adams and Clayton agreed that the congregation’s close-knit, family feel serves to reinforce the drive to help the community outside of the church.
Ruth Lukens Potter, daughter of the Rev. Dr. John Lukens, who served as pastor of IPC from 1948 to 1966, said the sense of family was apparent even before her family moved to Birmingham.
“We moved here in February of 1948,” Potter said. “I had just turned 12 the week before. So, I grew up in this church. I loved it from the day we got here and so did my parents. My mother was just in ecstasy.”
When they arrived at their house, supplied by the church, a group known as The Women of IPC filled their pantry with food to make them feel welcome. She attended Avondale Elementary School her first year in the city, but when the Brook Hill School – now The Altamont School – opened its doors to women, she was the first female recipient of a scholarship. Potter said the church has a strong connection with the school, without which she does not believe she would have had that opportunity.
Potter recalled having supper at the Children’s Fresh Air Farm, IPC’s oldest outreach program. The farm was started by The Women of IPC and Edmonds in 1923 and has seen a fair amount of changes throughout its life.
It began as a summer camp for underprivileged white children, offering them a place during the summer to nurture their minds and stomachs. Over time it was integrated and added programming to make it more beneficial to the needs of the children throughout the years.
Clayton said that an educational summer learning program was added more than five years ago to help keep underprivileged students on track with their education during the summer.
“One of the greatest things about a kid being able to come to the summer learning program is that, in addition to the academics and recreation, you’re getting breakfast, lunch and a snack before you go home,” Adams said.
Historically, the congregation has supported the Fresh Air Farm, among IPC’s many other outreach programs. Adams recalled an early churchgoer, Mary Alice Beatty, who consistently gave her time and wealth to the church. She even gave a secret gift of a bus to IPC to shuttle children to and from the farm. Adams said Beatty put a bow on the bus and hid when it was presented, wishing to give it anonymously.
“There were people of means in this congregation who always saw it as a part of their calling to – we are overall a congregation of people who have ample material resources,” Adams said. “There has always been a sense that, with that blessing, you are to be a blessing to other people who are not as fortunate.”
During her time at the church, Beatty also ran a waffle kitchen downtown with The Women of IPC to raise funds for a church organ. Adams said that during her research for her book, she ran across a quote from one of the diners that read, “Well, the waffles were okay, but the women were so darn pretty.”
“For the people of this church whose families have been members for generations, there is a legacy that this is what we do,” Adams said, referring to the church’s century-long legacy of community service.
Clayton said the constant for the church is the idea that members should live out their faith as the Bible states Jesus did, reaching out into the margins of society and clothing the naked, feeding the hungry and caring for the poor.
“The spirit of Henry Edmonds and the people who began this church and the ministers who have continued it all of these years was a spirit of believing in the faith was not just about believing doctrine,” Clayton said.
After a church fire in 1992 that destroyed most of the church, save the chapel and sanctuary, Adams said the church could have died out. Mainline Christian churches are seeing a decline in membership, Clayton added.
“I think the growing edge for us now as a congregation, like it is for so many churches, is in how you reach out to millennials, to younger people,” Clayton said.
Clayton said the plan for the second century is to delve even further into community outreach. The church plans to open a community resource center that will provide services and programming for people of all ages who are in need in the hope the opportunity will provide participants with a chance to move beyond poverty.
From Last to First
On the brink of its centennial, IPC welcomed the Rev. Dr. William “Bill” J. Carl III to its pulpit to serve as pastor this year.
“I am the last pastor of the first century and the first pastor of the second century, so it’s kind of amazing to be a part of that transitional moment,” Carl said.
Carl, along with the congregation, celebrated the beginning of the second century of IPC with a Second Century Service at the Alabama Theatre on Oct. 25. The event was attended by more than 1,000 people and included a service led by Carl, performances by the church’s children and adult choirs and the IPC’s organist Jim McClellan playing “Big Bertha,” the Alabama Theatre’s famous red organ. The program included recognizing the church’s members of 50, 60, and 70 years or more. One member who could not attend joined the church when he was 12 years old and has been a member for 85 years, according to Carl.
“We had a big blowout and it was so much fun,” Carl said. “We don’t usually have everyone together. Our sanctuary only holds about 600 and we have two different services on Sundays and a contemporary service at night.”
After serving as head pastor of a large ministry in Dallas for 22 years and president of the Presbyterian Seminary in Pittsburgh for 10 years, Carl said, what drew him to accept a position at IPC was the church’s history of community service. He serves under the belief that a civilization is only as strong as its weakest link.
“When you lift those who are at the bottom and help them – not just a hand out but a step up in order to get on their own and make it – it helps the whole society,” Carl said. “For a hundred years this church has always understood that.”
With a new century comes re-branding, said Carl, and IPC’s new tagline will read “IPC: Joining God in the World, Welcoming Our Neighbors.” He said the theme behind the statement is to not only worship in the sanctuary, but to worship through the act of helping others.
“For me, the front line of ministry is not the church building,” Carl said. “It’s where lay-people live and work trying to follow Jesus.” Through the new tagline and the growing social ministry, Carl said he hopes church officials are equipping people with the tools to help everyone in the community, not just themselves and their peers at IPC.
“While the mainline churches are declining, this is a church that’s actually growing and it’s going against the curve,” Carl said. “To grow in the 21st century, you have to be doing evangelism and social justice.”
The future of ministry, according to Carl, lies in the changing values of the millennial generation, who seek a form of spirituality that not only changes their lives, but the lives of others.
Carl said he invites new members to join not just to be entertained by the grandeur of “high church” in a sanctuary with beautiful music and a sermon, but to pair that experience with the spirituality that comes with working directly with those in need in the Birmingham community.
For more information on IPC and its centennial events, visit www.ipc-usa.org.
