WELCOME TO 
Hartzell Memorial
United Methodist  Church

SENIOR PASTOR, D. Josiah Montgomery

Rev. D. Josiah Montgomery is a native of Chicago’s south side, having grown up in the Grand Crossing neighborhood. His formative years were spent in the Holiness & Lutheran churches, and he attended Lutheran grade school. Hartzell is his second appointment, having served for three years as pastor of East Side United Methodist Church (Chicago), and most recently, in campus ministry at North Central College (Naperville). 

An organist by trade, Rev. Montgomery saw a calling to ministry in 2015, 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. 

Rev. Montgomery is better known as a theologian that is very vocal on social justice issues. Montgomery’s undergraduate thesis entitled: “The Metropolitan Spiritual Church Movement,” focused on the issues of injustice in Chicago and how that injustice began a new genre of music – Gospel! This work was expanded in August of 2012 and titled: "Lux Mundi - The Black Liberation Gospel of Chicago,” and was subsequently expanded upon in his Master’s Thesis at SMU. 

Rev. Montgomery is a 2012 graduate of Elmhurst College and alumnus of the college's Pi Iota chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity. He is also a 2018 graduate of Perkins School of Theology at SMU. He holds membership with the Chicago Chapter of the American Guild of Organists (Board Member), BUMP, and BMCR. Rev. Montgomery also serves as the Assistant Conductor of the Chatham Choral Ensemble here in Chicago. 

Rev. Montgomery comes from a long succession of Methodist/Holiness ministers, including his Great-Great-Great Grandfather, Rev. Robert Montgomery (Lexington, MS), and his Grandmother, Rev, Barbara Montgomery who serves as an assistant pastor at a local Pentecostal church.