Jon Watson
Lead Pastor
Jon has a Master of Theology from the University of Glasgow and Edinburgh Theological Seminary, and a Master of Divinity from Knox Theological Seminary. His academic emphases are biblical theology, Old Testament theology with a focus on Genesis, and narratology. Jon has spent years serving local churches, including two years as Minister in Training at St. Columba's Free Church in Edinburgh, Scotland (2019–2021). He currently serves as Pastor at Christ Church, which was planted in the north suburbs of Nashville, TN, in January, 2022. Jon and Beka have been married since 2011, and have three kids: William, Kathryn, and Eleanor. Originally from Washington state, they moved to Tennessee in 2015 and immediately sank into the gospel doctrine and gospel culture of Immanuel Church Nashville. While serving at Immanuel and working in the marketing industry, Jon was leading small groups, discipleship groups, and seminars. Beka worked as a birth doula, discipled women, taught in the kid’s ministry, and led women’s theology seminars. In 2019 they were sent to Edinburgh, Scotland, as missionaries, to continue Jon’s theological education and to serve at St. Columba’s Free Church. During the two years in Scotland, Jon preached regularly, Beka started Bible studies, and they shared the love of Jesus with their church and their neighbors. The Lord has led them back to Nashville to begin the labor of love he’s been growing in their hearts for years: planting a church in the Nashville area.
Our Approach
Because we treasure Christ, we treasure the Bible. From front to back, it’s all about him and for his glory.
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16–17 (ESV) 1) We trust the Bible We believe what God tells us through story, poetry, proverb, letter, and everything in between — and then we put it into practice. We take God’s word — as we have it — as God’s true and reliable self-revelation to us. 2) We're not scared of the Bible We let God comfort us, challenge us, upset our status quo, and shape us through his word. Even if it’s hard, confusing, or unsettling. We rest in the tensions of this ancient, God-breathed text by an active, robustly intellectual faith. 3) We let God shape our priorities, through the Bible Instead of coming with our ideas of what’s important, we let God teach us what really matters through the shape and content of his word.
