Rev. Dr. Jonathan Reford Wilson

Rev. Dr. Jonathan Reford Wilson died on Saturday, September 12, 2026, after a decade-long battle with cancer and a brief stay in the palliative care unit at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital. He was 75 years old.

From his early childhood in Oklahoma and Arkansas until his last days on Vancouver Island, Jonathan was fascinated by the natural world and always curious to learn something new. He read the book of nature in light of the book of Scripture and believed, in the words of the hymn, that God “shines in all that’s fair.” Those who knew and loved him were blessed by the grandeur of God that shone from his life and friendship.

Jonathan was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on August 10, 1951, to Rev. Jesse Reford Wilson and Mildred Gene (Lane) Wilson. He was delivered by a Jewish doctor in a Catholic hospital to Baptist parents. His sister, Rebecca, was born three years later in Pocahontas, Arkansas. Apart from a brief stay in Detroit, Michigan, Jonathan grew up in small towns in Arkansas and Oklahoma until the family moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where his father became the Director of Foreign Missions for Free Will Baptists when Jonathan was 10 years old. His father traveled around the world to care for missionaries and many home-coming missionaries were frequent dinner guests at their home. After graduating from Glencliff High School in Nashville, Jonathan attended Welch College (formerly Free Will Baptist Bible College), also in Nashville, graduating in 1975. Between 1972-1976, Jonathan also worked as a steam locomotive engineer and as Manager of Operations at Opryland USA.

In 1975, Jonathan moved to Vancouver, BC, to attend Regent College. He completed an M.C.S. and M.Div. at Regent. During this time he served as an intern at First Baptist Church in Vancouver where he met and married Marti (Crosby) Wilson in 1979. Ordained by the Canadian Baptists of Western Canada, Jonathan pastored Edmonds Baptist Church, Burnaby, BC (1980-1986). Their daughter Leah was born in Vancouver in 1981, and the family moved to Durham, NC, for Jonathan to attend Duke University in 1986. Upon completion of Jonathan’s Ph.D. in 1989, they moved to Santa Barbara, California, where Jonathan joined the faculty of the Religious Studies Department of Westmont College.

After 14 years in Santa Barbara, Jonathan and Marti moved to Marti’s home province of Nova Scotia, where Jonathan became Professor of Theology at Acadia Divinity College. In 2006, Marti and Jonathan once again moved across the continent, back to where they had started their life together in Vancouver, and Jonathan joined Carey Theological College as Pioneer McDonald Professor of Theology. During his years at Carey, Marti died of complications from Gaucher Disease in 2010. While caring for Marti, Jonathan had never traveled outside North America. He began his first overseas teaching in Kenya in 2011 and delighted in recovering his childhood dream of foreign mission at the age of sixty through connection with the global church.

Thanks to their mutual friend at Regent College, Jonathan met Soohwan Park, a seasoned humanitarian aid professional who had lived in three countries and worked in many more before moving to Vancouver. They traveled to Fukushima, Japan together in September 2012 to minister to Christians who were affected by the 2011 triple disasters, and married in Vancouver on the Feast Day of St. Francis in 2013. After Jonathan resigned from Carey in 2017 soon after he was diagnosed with aggressive, stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer, he continued his vocation as a theologian and missional practitioner. He worked with Canadian Baptist Ministries as Senior Consultant for Theological Integration between 2017 and 2024, allowing him and Soohwan to travel to support ministries around the world in between cancer treatment appointments in Vancouver. Jonathan also served as Teaching Fellow at Regent College (2014-2024); Senior Research Fellow at Centre for Missional Leadership at St. Andrew’s Hall, University of British Colombia (2017-2026); and Senior Research Fellow at International Baptist Theological Seminary and Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2019-2024).

In 2019 Jonathan and Soohwan moved to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, where they hosted scores of friends every year for respite, retreat, and spiritual care while attending Hammond Bay Baptist Church. They also enjoyed frequent visits to grandchildren in Durham, North Carolina, and former students and friends in Asia, Africa, and Europe.

Throughout his years teaching undergraduates, seminary students, and doctoral students, Jonathan shared his love of learning and desire for God in classrooms, chapel services, books, and essays. He published more than a dozen books on theology, ethics, and the life of the church and the Kingdom of God, and was celebrated by colleagues and former students in a Festschrift presented to him on his 70th birthday. As his cancer treatment options ran out in June of this year, Jonathan spent most of his time with Soohwan at home, praying for friends and former students, reciting his favourite Bible passages, and cherished occasional phone calls, texts or email messages from friends and family as his failing health allowed.

A theological ethicist with wide-ranging interests, Jonathan thought the most important place where theology touches the ground is the local church. Following his ministry at Edmonds Baptist Church in Vancouver, Jonathan served as a teacher and elected board member at Durham Mennonite Church; First Baptist Church, Santa Barbara; Montecito Covenant Church; Kentville United Baptist Church; and West Point Grey Baptist Church. He also served as interim chaplain at Westmont College; Honorary Associate Pastor for Visitation and Pastoral Care, Montecito Covenant Church; Interim Senior Pastor and Pastoral Team Leader at West Point Grey Baptist Church, Vancouver, BC; and Interim Pastor at Qualicum Community Baptist Church on Vancouver Island.

Jonathan leaves to treasure his memory and carry on his legacy his wife, Soohwan Park; daughter Leah Wilson-Hartgrove (Jonathan); grandchildren JaiMichael, Nora, and Nathan Wilson-Hartgrove; sister Rebecca Boston (Kevin); niece Maegan Reddick (Richard); grandnephew Idris Reddick; and a beloved community of former students, fellow church members, neighbors, and friends around the world.

A memorial service to remember Jonathan’s life and give thanks to God will be held at West Point Grey Baptist Church on Saturday, October 3, 2026, at 3pm. All are welcome. The service will be livestreamed on the church’s YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@pointgreychurch

In lieu of flowers memorial gifts in Jonathan’s honour can be made to A Rocha, an international creation care ministry that Jonathan and Soohwan loved and served together. (https://arocha.org/en/jonathan-wilson/).

See the tribute page from Regent College: https://www.regent-college.edu/about/news/2026/remembering-jonathan-r-wilson.php