Meet Doug Merkey

Rev. Doug Merkey (MDiv ’00)

Rev. Doug Merkey (MDiv '00) came to St. Louis from Atlanta, Georgia, in order to attend Covenant Seminary. He is now president of Churches for Life, a ministry he helped begin in order to equip churches to engage intelligently in the life arena.

Doug, give us a brief sketch of your ministry since graduating from seminary?

After seminary, I served as Pastor of Young Adults and the Sanctity of Human Life at Twin Oaks Presbyterian in St. Louis. During that time, I also served on the board of and as part-time staff for ThriVe St. Louis--a local crisis pregnancy center. I took a short break from full-time ministry to explore a lifelong dream as a sculptor--a dream which I continue to pursue avocationally today. In the last two years, I launched a ministry called Churches for Life (CFL). CFL's mission is to nourish churches as gospel-driven champions of life.

What needs were you responding to when you started CFL?

It is my longing to see the PCA rediscover the connection between the gospel of rescue and living as rescuers. It seems that Christians are by definition “rescued rescuers.” And, if Jesus (The Rescuer) lives in us, then letting his life shine through us means that we’ll be “accomplices to” his rescuing activity through us. The life arena is a most fitting place to see this faith-dynamic played out, and when it is powered by the gospel, it’s both beautiful and fruitful.

What have been some of the greatest lessons you have learned since entering vocational ministry?

I've learned that leadership is extremely important to pastoral ministry, along with the ability to preach and teach. I have also learned more about the gospel's power to provide the security and significance that is the platform for ongoing ministry.

Are you willing to describe some of the challenges you've experienced in ministry?

The life arena can, at times, be marked by strife both inside and outside the church. Dealing with inflammatory personalities requires a deep rootedness in the gospel.

Do you have any advice for young men and women training for vocational ministry in the local church?

Make it a top priority to have a real, regular, personal, gritty mentoring relationship with an experienced minister. It is important that this is not a relationship marked by counseling or activity updates. A mentor must have leeway to assign work and truly steer a student, given his or her particular needs. The general metaphor over the top of this relationship is that of an experienced soldier preparing a novice soldier for (spiritual) battle.

What does 'local ministry' mean to you?

Ministry flows from relationships. Within that context, local ministry is built on relationships with purposefulness and trust. This guards against an emphasis on treating people as projects to be completed or as objects to be conquered. It also guards against the impersonal, grandiose notions of ministry we Americans can sometimes have. Local ministry means developing relationships of mutual benefit upon the foundation of the gospel, with a passion for seeing the Kingdom impacted.

Meet alumnus Doug Lee