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Spreading The Light

Rev. Stow Transfers To New Assignment In Johnson City

The Rev. Carolyn Stow transferred from Kidder Memorial United Methodist Church in Jamestown to a UMC in Johnson City, N.Y. Stow served as pastor at the church since 2015. P-J photo by William Mohan

While a Jamestown pastor will still practice ministry, this summer will be a closing of a chapter in her life.

The Rev. Carolyn Stow transferred earlier this week from Kidder Memorial United Methodist Church to her new assignment in Johnson City, N.Y. She is also the second female pastor in Kidder’s history.

Stow has taught ministry and worked in human services for a combined 30 years in Chautauqua County. She has also been the first female pastor at Celoron, Clymer and North Clymer and Magnolia United Methodist Churches.

To Stow, the transition also is an extension of her time in the human services field.

“My background is in serving humans,” Stow said. “I started in the social work field and progressed to become a pastor. Now I not only serve emotional, physical and mental well being needs, but also spiritual.”

Stow sees her role as a pastor as an extension of her work in human services. Her combined career is also part of a life of service that began on the eastern side of New York state.

Originally a native of Massapequa, N.Y., Stow was an undergraduate at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where she worked in respite care and residential service positions.

In order to finish her undergraduate studies, she transferred to the State University of New York at Fredonia. There she received a bachelors of science in psychology in 1991. During this time she also raised a family with her husband, Mark Stow.

She also worked in various residential, community development, intensive care, and vocational positions in Chautauqua County. They included Southern Tier Environments for Living, The Resource Center, the Northern and Southern United Way of Chautauqua Counties, and the Center for The Learning Disabled.

“It was while I was at STEL that I earned my master’s in social work (from the University of Buffalo),” Stow said. “In concentrated on community development.”

While studying for her master’s Stow worked at the United Way of Southern Chautauqua in a field placement. Upon graduation she became executive director of Northern Chautauqua County.

“It was while I was in that position that I was called to ministry,” Stow said. “I looked into pursuing a master’s (degree) in divinity.”

At the same time, Stow also served as part-time pastor at North Harmony, Celoron and Magnolia United Methodist Churches for a combined eight years.

Upon retiring from The United Way, she began attending the seminary at Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School in 2008. Stow graduated from CRCDS in 2011. In 2014, she was ordained an elder in the Upper New York Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. Prior to her ordination she also served Clymer and North Clymer UMC.

“After I graduated, and before I was commissioned, I served the Dunkirk First UMC for a year,” Stow said.

In the time she was at Dunkirk, she established a homeless ministry called Willow Mission with cooperation from the Department of Social Services and incorporated the experiences Stow had previously encountered in human services.

“I took much of my case management and residential experiences and applied them to that work,” Stow said. “We repurposed the church building and the parsonage (to utilize both men and women).”

In addition, she established a food pantry, and a collection point for clothing, household items, hygiene products, furniture and similar items.

“In that first year we helped 25 people off the streets,” Stow said.

In July 2015, Stow arrived at Kidder Memorial UMC. When asked how the church was different when she first arrived, she noted changes in the worship approach that had occurred shortly before.

“There was a blended approach to worship (at Kidder) because it included both traditional and current forms,” she said.

She said that the biggest changes that occurred during her time in ministry was the current addiction epidemic. She also coincided it with her years in human services.

“It was new when I entered the field and now it has become more pronounced,” Stow said.

Looking back on her time at the church she is very proud of her accomplishments.

“While I was here some great things have happened,” Stow said.

She also cites Kidder’s partnership with Fletcher Elementary School.

“We provide food to children with families who don’t have that,” she said.

She also is proud of her establishment of ministries that are going to continue after her departure. Among them are the Christian outreach team, a fellowship group with Lutheran, a children’s program, a partnership with Emmanuel Baptist Church that involves teaching and worship experiences, and the music ministry.

“I am very pleased that most of these ministries will continue after I leave,” Stow said.

Stow explained that what she loves about her job is that she is energized by the accomplishments of others. She cited that each church assignment has their own strengths and weaknesses, energy and characteristics.

“Being a pastor is not a second career. It is an extension of my previous one,” Stow said.

She is looking forward to her new church position in July. She explained that she will be serving at a UMC in Johnson City as senior pastor. Stow will also serve in social-work-based outreach. She also enjoys the fact that she and her husband Mark will now be closer to her daughter in New Jersey and son in Boston.

She said she will miss the fact that Jamestown includes a metropolitan region near a country region (She cited places such as the National Comedy Center and the Jamestown River Walk). Most importantly Stow said she will miss the people.

“They show so much support for each other,” Stow said.

While she is leaving her home of more than 20 years, she explained that she will still be involved in regional activities. Stow is on the board of the United Methodist Church Hospitality House at Chautauqua Institution and has family from her husband’s side in the region.

She cites both her immediate and extended family as inspirations for her to enter ministry. Her uncle was a Roman Catholic Bishop in Brooklyn and her daughter and son-in-law Jacki and Pedro Pillot are pastors in southern New Jersey.

“My family is a great part of who I am and they have shown support for me as well as examples of patience and pride,” Stow said.

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