Weaving Biology and Global Missions Together
As students from Southern Wesleyan University (SWU) spotted various species of monkeys and took note of canopy structure in the Panamanian rainforest, they were seeing more than a biology lesson come to life – they were also discovering how their academic interests can be part of their Christian calling.
Dr. Jeff Mohr co-led the trip to Panama.
Through SWU’s International Studies in Biology course and a partnership with Global Partners (GP), 12 students participated in a short-term trip co-led by Dr. Jeff Mohr, professor of biology at SWU, and Christy Van Steenburg, a GP regional mobilizer. By intentionally weaving academic biology and global missions together, Jeff said he hoped that the students would “learn to see both people and creation more carefully.”
While in Panama, the group visited Barro Colorado Island – one of the best-known tropical research sites in the world – explored rainforest habitat at Metropolitan Natural Park and experienced biodiversity around Gamboa.
They became giddy over organisms and ecological relationships they had studied prior to the trip: leaf-cutter ants, strangler figs and howler monkeys, to name a few. Jeff said God was at work in the way the students began connecting classroom knowledge with awe.
“It was not just, ‘that’s interesting.’ It became, ‘this is intricate, ordered, alive and bigger than I realized,’” Jeff recounted. “They were seeing God’s creativity in complex ecological systems, not as a vague idea, but right in front of them.”
The group served with a local church, made up of members from the Guna Indigenous people group.
The group also served with a local church, mostly made up of members from the Guna Indigenous people group. Through spending time with their Panamanian hosts, the students gained clarity about indigenous communities, food systems, environmental pressures and daily life.
“They began to realize that ecology is not abstract,” Jeff said. “Environmental change affects real people, real families and real communities.”
The group’s understanding of scientific knowledge deepened, but the impact didn’t stop there.
Christy’s prayer was that students would have their eyes opened to God’s global mission and how He might be calling them to use their passion for science to be part of reaching the unreached around the world. By the end of the trip, there were signs that God had begun answering those prayers.
One student reflected, “[The trip] was very eye-opening for me! God really taught me how there’s so much more involved in missions than meets the eye, how intentional God is [both] in us and in creation, and how shared experiences are a reminder of the childlike faith we should have.”
Students connected their classroom knowledge with awe.
Jeff believes students will be processing this experience for months, and will continue to learn as they ask “now what do I do with what I saw?”
Join us in praying for this group as the Lord continues to teach and guide them!