Canterbury to welcome new senior minister in June

Canterbury United Methodist Church will have a new senior minister starting June 10.

Rev. Dale Cohen has been appointed to the position by North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church. His first sermon series, “The Road Ahead,” will begin on Sunday, June 14.

Cohen has served in the North Alabama Conference since June 1983. He was church-planting founder and pastor of Discovery United Methodist Church in Hoover during the 1990s, and served as an associate minister at Trinity United Methodist in Homewood prior to that.

For the past five years, he has served as district superintendent in the Northeast District of the UMC in the Huntsville area. While he’s said he has loved his roles for the conference, he said he is excited to return to life at a local church.

“There is something different about what I call, ‘the rhythm of day-to-day life in a congregation,’” Cohen said. “I’ve missed that, and I’m really looking forward to getting back to that rhythm. And to do that at a great church like Canterbury is an honor.”

Cohen will replace Dr. Bill Morgan, who served as senior minister at the church for 12 years. Morgan will be joining the North Alabama Conference as the district superintendent of the South Central District, which counts Canterbury among its 52 churches. He will continue to reside in Birmingham.

“I am grateful for the blessings of serving as Canterbury’s pastor,” Morgan said. “Now, I am joyful for the blessing of serving in the missional work of superintendents.”

Cohen said that he looks forward to working with the staff and lay leadership of Canterbury.

“My primary responsibility as a pastor is to help everyone around me to grow in their relationship with God and in their ability to contribute to the kingdom of God,” he said. “I like to inspire and challenge people to do great things — and specifically to do the great things that God is calling them to do.”

Cohen received his undergraduate degree from Birmingham-Southern College, majoring in psychology/sociology, and received his Master of Divinity from Emory University-Candler School of Theology. He and his wife, Ann, are the parents of three grown children.

For more information on the church, visit canterburyumc.org.