Josiah Montgomery

D. Josiah Montgomery is a native of Chicago’s south side, having grown up in the city’s Grand Crossing neighborhood. He currently serves as Senior Pastor at Hartzell Memorial United Methodist Church of Chicago. Rev. Montgomery previously served for three years as pastor of East Side United Methodist Church (Chicago), and in campus ministry at North Central College (Naperville). Before commencing his ministry work, Montgomery served as Organist at the Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest, Abilene, Texas.

An organist by trade, Montgomery felt called to ministry in 2014, while serving at First UMC-LaGrange, IL. He graduated from Perkins School of Theology at SMU in 2018, having concentrations in moral theology & African American religious history. In 2020, he became a certified candidate for ministry. In 2022, he was officially recognized as a licensed local pastor in the Northern Illinois Conference.

Montgomery is a 2012 graduate of Elmhurst College and alumnus of the college’s Pi Iota chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity. He holds membership with the Chicago Chapter of the American Guild of Organists (past board member), Black United Methodist Pastors, and Black Methodists for Church Renewal.

He studied organ with Annie Burks (his great aunt), Dr. Dennis Northway, and Dr. David Christiansen (while at Elmhurst). After undergrad, Montgomery served as Associate College Organist (Elmhurst College) and Assistant Organist at First Baptist Congregational Church, simultaneously. Then

Montgomery also serves as the Assistant Conductor of the Chatham Choral Ensemble here in Chicago, and continues to perform at First Baptist Congregational Church-UCC annually at the Messiah, and throughout Chicagoland, Texas, Tennessee & Mississippi.