Dr. Jonathan Watt is a Bible and Linguistics professor at Geneva College, and he is very passionate about missions. He loves traveling, having already visited a couple dozen countries. This past summer, he visited Liberia, a place he has had a connection with for over 36 years.
Liberia is a poor and politically quiet country on the bulge of West Africa. About 36 years ago, the Reformed Presbyterian mission board where Dr. Watt worked attempted to establish a mission church there. Sadly, right after everything had been planned, a civil war broke out. The mission attempt was dropped and left alone until approximately six years ago.
At that point, several RP churches in Indiana put together a new initiative to help many ministries including existing churches in Liberia. This led to Dr. Watt visiting the work in Liberia several times in 2018, 2022, and 2023. While there, he taught a seminar at African Bible College University, located in Yekepa. His goal was to help train and assist pastors to go out into the world and spread the gospel. On his most recent trip, he was given the privilege to teach undergraduate students about the book of Romans.
The living situation in Liberia was not the easiest. Dr. Watt would get eight hours of electricity a day: four hours in the morning and four in the evening. There was also little water, and the tap water was undrinkable forcing Dr. Watt to use bottled water. However, he still was able to accomplish what he needed to do.
Dr. Watt is also very involved in the Bible Department at Geneva College. He is one of the leading faculty for the Missions, Biblical Studies, Pre-Seminary, and Student Ministry majors. He has been working in the Bible Department part-time since 1994, becoming a full-time professor in 2000. Dr. Watt has taught almost 10,000 different students during his time at Geneva.
“I was hired as a general specialist. I taught general Bible courses but I was also already published in Greek and linguistics and I had a long run as the executive secretary of the RP missions board. This allowed me to design a four-course missions sequence to help establish a missions major.”
Often students pursuing a missions degree will get to take a trip to a different country including Israel or Italy. Dr. Watt loves taking these trips, partially because he enjoys eating ice cream with students and watching them grow and broaden. He enjoys watching students’ eyes light up from experiences they have only heard of.
“You have history, archeology, culture, language, food. And all these things are coming together and the students, just as I am, are enthralled with it.”
There are also times when students have to go through a situation that is unideal but once they get through it, they gain a new understanding of everything. He gave an example of students taking a taxi ride and the Muslim driver shared his anguish and frustration over the complex Israeli/Arab conflicts. Through that experience, the students were able to gather a new understanding of that situation and the world around them.
“Whether we are doing an academic trip or helping students get connected with missions partners, we think it is a good way to connect with the world at large, outside of their own familiar world.”
Dr.Watt delights in the broadening of students’ minds and the joy or realization on their faces. They realize that the world is so much larger than they originally thought it was. That is the goal he wants to accomplish when taking students abroad, or when teaching them at Geneva College.
-Anna Eshelman '24
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