Meet Our Pastor
Rev. Jonathan Rumburg, or simply Jonathan as he encourages folks to call him, is first a father, husband, son, brother, and uncle. After those roles, he is the pastor of FCC Stow, having served in this role for over ten years.
Jonathan is a native Ohioan, born and raised in the rolling farmlands surrounding his hometown of Wooster, Ohio. It was there his parents took him and his two older siblings to church each Sunday at Central Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), where despite his constant squirming in the pews (which was often followed by crawling under the pews), the good people of this church loved and nurtured Jonathan despite his antics that made such challenging. As a result, Jonathan came to see the church as the one place where all were welcome to come, quite literally, just as they are.
The ministries of this church and church denomination—including the Christian Church in Ohio and most especially Camp Christian—along with countless ministers, youth pastors, Sunday School teachers, church ladies, and even old curmudgeons of the church, all showed Jonathan a vision of what the Church is to be—a place where all can come and be embraced as children of God and encouraged to hear God’s call for their lives and then fulfill their ministry. (II Timothy 4:5)
Jonathan graduated from Bethany College in Bethany, West Virginia with a bachelor’s of art degree in Religious Studies (along with an accidental minor in Communication, which he likes folks to know about). During his time at Bethany, Jonathan was the Youth Pastor at First Christian Church of Washington, Pennsylvania, Church Relations Intern for the college, President of the Environmental Concerns Club, varsity tennis player, two-time build your own boat regatta champion, and lead scorer for the Our House intramural floor hockey championship team (B division.)
After college, Jonathan returned to his home town of Wooster to take a break from school before seminary. The break was intended to be just one year but turned out to be four years. Still though, Jonathan will tell you it was four incredibly important years of growing up and learning about how the real world works as he worked as a shipping and receiving manager for a department store.
When that chapter in life came to an end Jonathan found himself in the bluegrass of Kentucky, enrolled in the Masters of Divinity program at Lexington Theological Seminary in Lexington, Kentucky. During these years Jonathan served as the Student Associate Pastor of Cynthiana Christian Church in Cynthiana, Kentucky, a church that not only honed his skills in preaching, teaching, and pastoral care, but also his skills on both the soccer and softball fields.
Upon graduation and ordination, God led Jonathan back to the rolling farmlands of northeast Ohio, this time to the quaint town of Wadsworth, Ohio. In 2003, Jonathan became the Associate Pastor of First Christian Church of Wadsworth, where he was given the incredible opportunity to serve that church in every way the Senior Pastor served, and in all the ways the Senior Pastor didn’t want to serve! It made for a vast array of ministry opportunities and experiences.
After more than six years in Wadsworth, Jonathan heard God’s call to put on his big-boy preacher pants and come to FCC Stow. And it is here Jonathan has served as our Senior Pastor for over ten years, bringing to the good folks of this church and community a message of hope, peace, joy, and love though mediocre preaching, a call for faithfulness over perfection, witty and engaging children’s sermons, self-deprecating humor, the biblical mandate for social justice through empathy and compassion and love by serving the least among us, and a constant invitation to draw closer to the divine so all will come to know the truth that all people are holy and beloved children of God.
Ask Jonathan and he will tell you his priorities in life are his relationship with God, followed by his devotion to his wife Julie and their two children, helping care for his mother, supporting all of his family in any way he can, and then giving all of his heart, mind, and soul in service to God and the church. After all of those things, Jonathan loves to play soccer, softball, whiffle ball, kickball, and doing triathlons—but just the short sprint triathlons. Oh, and long walks on the beach, he enjoys those too, but then again who doesn’t love long walks on the beach? One thing Jonathan doesn’t do is sing. The church lovingly encouraged him to sing more softly after discovering God did not bless him with the spiritual gift of making a “joyful noise.” But hey, we all can’t do everything. Which is why Jonathan will also tell you that FCC Stow doesn’t try to be all things to all people, but rather we work really hard to be the church God calls us to be, because in the end, that’s all God expects from us.
Hello! I’m Rev. Jonathan Rumburg, but you can call me Jonathan. I’m a father, husband, son, brother, and uncle. After those roles, I am the pastor of FCC Stow, having served in this role for over ten years.
I am a native Ohioan, born and raised in the rolling farmlands surrounding my hometown of Wooster, Ohio. My parents took me and my two older siblings to church each Sunday at Central Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Wooster, where despite my constant squirming in the pews (which was often followed by crawling under the pews), the good people of this church loved and nurtured Jonathan, despite my challenging antics. As a result, I came to see the church as the one place where all were welcome to come, quite literally, just as they are.
The ministries of this church and church denomination—including the Christian Church in Ohio, and most especially Camp Christian—along with countless ministers, youth pastors, Sunday School teachers, church ladies, and even old curmudgeons of the church, all showed me a vision of what the Church is to be. The Church can be a place where all can come and be embraced as children of God and encouraged to hear God’s call for their lives and then fulfill their ministry (II Timothy 4:5). I graduated from Bethany College in Bethany, West Virginia with a bachelor of arts degree in Religious Studies (along with an accidental minor in Communication, just F.Y.I). During my time at Bethany, I served as the Youth Pastor at First Christian Church of Washington, Pennsylvania, Church Relations Intern for the college, President of the Environmental Concerns Club, varsity tennis player, two-time build-your-own boat regatta champion, and lead scorer for the Our House intramural floor hockey championship team (B division).
After college, I returned to my home town of Wooster to take a break from school before seminary. The break was intended to be just one year, but turned out to be four years. It was four incredibly important years of growing up and learning about how the real world works as I worked as a shipping and receiving manager for a department store.
When that chapter of my life came to an end, I found myself in the bluegrass of Kentucky, enrolled in the Masters of Divinity program at Lexington Theological Seminary in Lexington, Kentucky. During these years, I served as the Student Associate Pastor of Cynthiana Christian Church in Cynthiana, Kentucky. This time spent at Cynthiana Christian not only honed my skills in preaching, teaching, and pastoral care, but also my skills on the soccer and softball field.
Upon graduation and ordination, God led me back to the rolling farmlands of northeast Ohio, this time to the quaint town of Wadsworth, Ohio. In 2003, I became the Associate Pastor of First Christian Church of Wadsworth, where I was given the incredible opportunity to serve that church in every way the Senior Pastor served, and in all the ways the Senior Pastor didn’t want to serve! It made for a vast array of ministry opportunities and experiences.
After more than six years in Wadsworth, I heard God’s call to put on the big-boy preacher pants and come to First Christian Church of Stow. I’ve served as our Senior Pastor for over ten years, bringing to the good folks of this church and community my unique brand of message. A message that aims at hope, peace, joy, and love through mediocre preaching, a call for faithfulness over perfection, witty and engaging children’s sermons, self-deprecating humor, the biblical mandate for social justice through empathy and compassion and love by serving the least among us, and a constant invitation to draw closer to the divine, so that we can all come to know the truth that all people are holy and beloved children of God.
My priorities in life are my relationship with God, followed by my devotion to my wife, Julie, and our two children, helping care for his mother, supporting all of his family in any way he can, and then giving all of his heart, mind, and soul in service to God and the church.
After all of those things, I love to play soccer, softball, wiffle ball, kickball, and doing triathlons (but just the short sprint triathlons!). Oh, and long walks on the beach. I enjoy those too, but then again who doesn’t love long walks on the beach? One thing I doesn’t do is sing. The church lovingly encouraged me to sing more softly after discovering God did not bless me with the spiritual gift of making a “joyful noise.”
But hey! We all can’t do everything… Which is why you should know that FCC Stow doesn’t try to be all things to all people, but rather we work really hard to be the church God calls us to be, because in the end, that’s all God expects from us.