[2] The church was founded as an independent chapel in 1748[3] and then enlarged in 1812 at a cost of £2,000 to seat 600 people, not least due to the popularity of the preaching of John Angell James.

[4] A further enlargement was undertaken in 1820 to designs by the architect Thomas Stedman Whitwell, which was then re-fronted by Yeoville Thomason in 1876.

The current building was begun in 1968 by Denys Hinton and Partners and completed in 1971.

The church bears a blue plaque erected by Birmingham Civic Society in 1995 to commemorate Dr R. W. Dale, minister at Carrs Lane from 1854 until his death, and prominent preacher of the "Civic Gospel".

[5] The church has a pipe organ by Hill Norman and Beard dating from 1970.