Read letters from Doug and Liz Searles
March 2012 (2)
March 2012
December 2011
November 2011
May 7, 2011
May 2011
March 2011
January 2011
November 1, 2010
August 29, 2010
April 10, 2010
December 15, 2009
December 11, 2009
October 15, 2009
July 7, 2009
June 15, 2009
January 5, 2009
For older letters, contact Mission Connections
Doug Searles
Formerly in Poland - 2008 - 2012
About Doug
Doug and Liz Searles were commissioned by the 218th General Assembly in San Jose, California, in June 2008 and assigned to Lodz, Poland, where they worked with the Evangelical-Reformed Church in Poland. They served as consultants and evangelists, working in church growth, small-group development, music ministry, and teacher training in English as a second language, all in order to assist church renewal and growth in the post-communist environment.
The Evangelical-Reformed Church in Poland is a minority Protestant church of about 4,000 members in a country of 39 million people. It has a rich history dating to the year 1551 but has only 10 ordained pastors, 10 churches and 4 preaching points.
Mission work was not new to Doug. From 1999 to 2000 he and Liz served in Changchun, Jilin Province, China, where they taught English as a foreign language to students age 5 to adults. He was interim pastor at Schleswig United Church of Christ in Schleswig, Iowa, from 2000 to 2001, and then he and Liz served again in China (Chengdu, Sichuan) from 2001 to 2007, with Global Ministries, a combined witness of the United Church of Christ and the Christian Church/Disciples of Christ. They trained English teachers from minority schools in western Sichuan Province, particularly Tibetan, Yi and Qiang minority teachers.
Doug was ordained as a minister in June 1997 by the American Baptist Church. He and Liz served at Woodstock School in Uttar Pradesh, India, from 1997 to 1999. Doug was houseparent, chaplain and teacher of ethics while Liz was a music teacher and an English teacher. Prior to serving at Woodstock, Doug was pastor of First Baptist Church in Mount Carroll, Illinois.
Doug also holds ministerial standing with the United Church of Christ. Prior to his ordination and service as a minister and mission worker he was chief fiscal officer of the state of Illinois' Department of Employment Security.
Doug holds a bachelor’s degree from Wayne State University and an M.Div. from Northern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Birthdays:
Doug - April 16
