Multigenerational Worship · Anniston First United Methodist
Old hymns and new songs.
Every age in one room.
Sundays at 10:30 in the Sanctuary. “Multigenerational” is our word for it — here is what it actually means.
- When
- Sundays, 10:30 a.m.January–May and August–December
- Where
- The Sanctuary1400 Noble Street, Anniston
- Children
- Nursery and children’s churchNursery for birth through age two
- Music
- Hymns and new songsChoir, handbells, band, organ and piano
What the name means
We don’t sort people by age on Sunday morning.
“Multigenerational” is a word churches use and visitors have to decode, so here is the plain version.
The room holds people in their eighties who have sat in these pews for decades, families with car seats and diaper bags, teenagers, single adults, and people who walked in for the first time this morning. Everybody gets the same hour.
Musically it is a blend. We sing hymns out of the hymnal, and we sing songs written in the last few years. If you came for one and not the other, you will get some of what you came for and some of what somebody else came for. That is the trade, and we think it is worth making.
The blend, literally
Some Sundays it is a choir. Some Sundays it is a band.
Most Sundays it is some of both, and the handbells turn up more often than you would expect. If the music is the thing that decides a church for you, this is what ours looks like.
The hour, in order
What actually happens, start to finish.
You are handed a bulletin on the way in. It lays out the whole service in order, so you are never guessing what comes next.
- We gather with music and announcements.
- We sing — usually a hymn and a newer song.
- We pray, together and in silence.
- We read Scripture.
- Children come forward for the children’s moment, then head out to children’s church.
- We hear a sermon.
- We give. The plate passes by you. Letting it pass is a completely normal thing to do, and nobody is counting.
- We are sent out with a song and a blessing.
On the first Sunday of the month, we share Communion.
In the United Methodist Church, the table is open. You do not have to be a member here, or a member anywhere, or have anything sorted out, to come forward. And if you would rather stay in your seat, that is a real option too — plenty of people do, for plenty of reasons.
The honest answers
The questions people ask themselves in the parking lot.
The Sanctuary is a big room. Will I feel conspicuous?
Less than you would think, and this is the honest advantage of a big room: you can sit wherever you want. Near the back, off to one side, close to a door. Nobody is tracking who came in, nobody has saved a seat for you, and nobody will move you.
If you want to arrive at 10:31 and leave during the last song, you can do that, and it will not be remarked on. And if you would rather not be anonymous, that is available too — say so to anyone at the door and you will be introduced to people. You pick.
Is this the traditional service or the contemporary one?
Neither, on purpose. If what you want is hymns, the Apostles’ Creed and a room that runs quiet, that is Acker Chapel at 8:30, and you will be happier there. This service sits in the middle and is not trying to be either one.
I have small children. What do I actually do with them?
Nursery is available for birth through age two. Older children start the service with you, come forward for the children’s moment, and then go out to children’s church, so you get to hear the sermon. If you would rather keep your children with you the whole hour, do that instead — nobody here will mind, and nobody will suggest otherwise.
What do people wear?
Everything. You will see a tie and you will see gym shorts in the same row.
Will I have to stand up, or fill something out?
No. There is a card in the bulletin if you want us to know you came. Ignoring it is a perfectly good answer.
What if I have not been to church in years?
Then you will be in good company — that is true of more people in this room than you would guess.
What happens in the summer?
In June and July this service takes a break and the whole church worships at Common Ground, out at Camp Lee. Different setting, same people. If you come looking for us downtown in the summer, that is where we will be.
Getting there
Where to park, and which door.
Address
1400 Noble Street
Anniston, AL 36201
Closest parking
The Noble Street spaces run along the front of the building. The West Lot, the Church Lot, the Court Avenue Lot and the Meals on Wheels Lot are all close by, and the map below marks each one.
Which door
Come in the Sanctuary entrance on Noble Street. It is marked on the map below.
Accessibility
The building is handicap accessible and we have ADA restrooms. If it would help to know exactly where to come in and where to sit, call the church office before Sunday and we will walk you through it.
Come a few minutes early if you would like to get your bearings. Come at 10:31 if that is what the morning allowed. Either way, there is a seat.
Who you’ll meet
Two pastors, one service.
Rev. Tammy H. Jackson
Senior PastorTammy has led Anniston First since 2020 and preaches most Sundays. She grew up just down the road in Glencoe, and served churches in Cherokee County, Gadsden and Albertville before coming here.
More about Tammy
Before her appointment here, Tammy served the Ebenezer and Hebron congregations in Cherokee County as a licensed local pastor while completing her seminary education at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. She was Associate Pastor at Gadsden First United Methodist Church, lead pastor of Hewett Memorial in Albertville, and pastor of Hope of Albertville, a merger of two United Methodist congregations. She then spent three years as Executive Director of the Family Success Center of Etowah County.
For six years she was Candidacy Coordinator and Local Pastor Registrar for the Mountain Lakes District, walking with people discerning a call to ministry. She teaches Christian Education and mentors at the North Alabama Conference’s annual Licensing School, and serves as vice-chair of the Board of Ordained Ministry.
Her husband, Joseph, was her high school sweetheart; they have been married almost twenty-eight years. Joseph is a facility technician with AT&T here in Calhoun County. They have two grown sons, Andrew — married to Bethanie — and Ryan, and a granddaughter, Elizabeth. Tammy and Joseph cycle, on road and mountain, and share their house with a cat named Itty Bitty and an old, beloved dog named Shadow.
Rev. Kyle Bryan
Executive PastorKyle came to Anniston First as an associate pastor in 2017. In 2022 he stepped away to work on a homeless shelter project with United Way of East Central Alabama, came back part-time in 2025, and returned full-time in 2026. He preaches here occasionally.
Sundays at 10:30 in the Sanctuary.
You don’t have to have it figured out to walk through the door.
Questions before Sunday? Call 256-236-5605 or email info@annistonfirst.info.
A real person will answer you, and asking now beats wondering about it in the parking lot.