An Evening with Doug Baker

We have been invited to join the Covington Presbyterian Church on Sunday, March 24th from 7-8:30 PM for dessert and a presentation on peace-building efforts in Northern Ireland.  The presentation will be given by Doug Baker, a Presbyterian Mission co-worker in Belfast.  This is a great opportunity and we hope many will choose to attend.  For more information, see Reverend Fry or contact the church office.

From the website of the Presbyterian Mission Agency: 

After more than 30 years of working for reconciliation in Northern Ireland, Doug Baker has seen tensions lessen and violence abate. However the tall, graffiti-covered metal walls that separate some unionist and nationalist neighborhoods remind him that much work is still to be done.

Doug serves as a resource to the Irish churches as they develop their own understanding of and capacity for peace-building. This includes facilitating dialogue within particular churches about the place of reconciliation in Christian ministry and also dialogues between those from differing religious, political, and cultural backgrounds. Such dialogues, Doug says, have helped build understanding and nurture relationships.

Doug invests much time preparing future church leaders. In addition to his role with Young Adult Volunteers (YAVs), he teaches ministerial students, equipping them to be agents of reconciliation within the parishes they are to serve.

YAVs plant seeds of reconciliation in Northern Ireland primarily in their work with children and youth. While supporting them in this work, Doug also encourages the YAVs themselves toward a deeper walk of faith. About one-third of YAVs go to seminary after they complete their year of service.

Like the YAVs he now mentors, Doug Baker experienced Northern Ireland in a formative stage of his life. He was a college student in the summer of 1970 when he was invited to work in Northern Ireland through a program sponsored by University Presbyterian Church in Seattle. “Being there for a summer stimulated an interest and gave me a deep concern for what the people there are going through,” he says.

           Eventually Doug returned to Northern Ireland as a mission co-worker and has invested his life in the region. There he met and married Elaine, a former teacher in Belfast who had long been active in reconciliation efforts. Their work with the churches has made a lasting impact on society in Northern Ireland and their influence on YAVs promises to bear fruit for years to come in the PC(USA).