Local Clergyman Becomes First Associate Pastor At Stepney Church

By Jan Howard

For the first time in its more than 150-year history, the Stepney Baptist Church has hired an associate pastor.

The Rev Jim Solomon of Newtown began his duties in June and took part in his first Sunday service on June 6. He previously served as associate pastor at Walnut Hill Community Church in Bethel from 1998 to 2004.

When the opportunity at Stepney was presented to him, Rev Solomon said he was not actively seeking new employment. He heard about the position from a friend who was a member of the congregation.

“She felt I would be the perfect match for what they were looking for. It came out of the blue.” Church leaders, he said, “began praying that God would lead them to someone who would lighten the current pastor’s load, sharing the preaching and focusing on mentoring, developing, and leading both staff and lay leaders of the church.”

The position was a perfect fit, he said. “I’m preaching a lot more, sharing the pulpit, and doing less counseling,” Rev Solomon said. During his tenure at Walnut Hill Community, his primary responsibility was counseling, he noted.

“I was hoping for a while to do less counseling and more preaching,” he said. Because Senior Pastor Rev Dr George Britt is willing to do less preaching and more counseling, Rev Solomon noted, “God knew what he was doing when he brought the two of us together.”

The church, which has about 200 parishioners, is growing, Rev Solomon said. “We’re attracting new folks. The church appeals to all ages.” He noted only a small percentage of the parishioners grew up in a Baptist church.

Rev Solomon said the church reflects a sense of respect for tradition, and the parish “is really a family.”

He said he and his wife, Anne, and their two children, Amanda, 5, and Ashley, 3, immediately felt at home at Stepney.

“The congregation is warm, welcoming, and exciting. The men and women who lead the church have an outward focus, desiring to serve not only our people but also those outside of our church throughout the community. Stepney truly is a church where people find a place to belong and become all that God has created them to be.”

In addition to preaching, Rev Solomon is taking an active role in development of leadership roles for parishioners in the church’s various ministries, and mentoring, developing, and leading staff and lay readers. He noted the importance of women in leadership roles in the church. He is also involved in staff development and recently hired a minister of music.

Rev Solomon recently spent almost a month filling in for Pastor Britt in the pulpit and in leadership team meetings, in addition to hospital visits and counseling, when Pastor Britt was sidelined because of an unexpected emergency.

“It was baptism by fire, but I loved every minute of it,” Rev Solomon said. “But I’m thankful my mentor and co-shepherd, Pastor Britt, is back in action.

“We complement each other’s gifts very well,” he said.

Rev Solomon said he is focusing on developing new programs from nursery to senior citizens as the church is very diverse in its makeup. “My niche seems to be in helping people discover their own individual gifts and talents so as to find a place to serve in which they are most effective and most fulfilled.”

Rev Solomon grew up in Providence, one of 12 children of a Roman Catholic family, and once thought he would become a Catholic priest. “My wife and children are thankful that I didn’t become a priest — most of the time,” he said, laughing.

Despite those early thoughts of entering the priesthood, events during Rev Solomon’s high school and college years actually led him to become agnostic.

“I was not sure there was a God,” he said. His father, now deceased, had his first heart attack, and a family friend, who Rev Solomon viewed as a grandmother, had a stroke. Later, a fraternity brother died in a drunk-driving car accident, causing him to actively begin seeking answers to questions of what happens when one dies.

“I took as many philosophy classes as an accounting major was allowed to take — but it wasn’t until I opened the Bible, reading the Gospel of John, that my eyes were opened.” He said he began to realize that Christianity was not so much about the “dos and don’ts” of religion, but about a relationship with God through faith in Christ.

In a search for a new church, Rev Solomon said he stumbled upon historic Park Street Congregational Church, near Beacon Hill, in Boston. There he found a vibrant congregation of professionals who had an authentic faith in Christ, he noted.

He also found someone who would become very important to him and his future. Among those attending the church was Anne Douglas, a native of Baton Rouge, La., who soon became his wife. They have been married for nine and a half years.

“She is not only a partner in life but also a partner in ministry with me,” Rev Solomon said. Shortly after their wedding, they moved to California where Rev Solomon received a well-rounded education that included classes in Greek, Hebrew, preaching, counseling, ethics, and more at Bethel Theology Seminary in San Diego.

“A typical Protestant minister today wears many hats,” he said. “My education prepared me to do what God was calling me to do to my fullest potential.”

Upon graduation, Rev Solomon was asked to stay at a nondenominational church where he served part-time. However, he noted, “Our hearts were in New England.”

Out of the blue he heard about a position at the Walnut Hill Community Church through one of his seminary professors. When the offer arrived, the couple readily moved back to New England.

Rev Solomon earned a bachelor’s of science in accounting from the University of Rhode Island. After working for six years as an accountant at First Data Corporation in Boston, he slowly moved into corporate training. “I discovered that accounting was not what I was supposed to do for life,” though he had originally planned to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a certified public accountant.

The Solomons have been residents of Newtown since August 1998.              

Rev Solomon enjoys hiking, antiquing, day trips with his family, and eating out and entertaining at home. He likes to read, with topics ranging from theological texts to classics to counseling. He ran a marathon in the fall of 1993, and still likes to run. He said Amanda is looking forward to running with him someday.