Rev. Dwayne M. Doyle returns to his birth place of New Jersey with new insight.
After spending the last eight years of his life in Kyrgyzstan, the Rev. Dwayne M. Doyle has found his way to Berlin Borough.
From displaced people struggling in the shadows of the Soviet Union’s collapse to families affected by the Chernobyl nuclear crisis, Doyle’s recent extensive stay in Central Asia was one of the pastor’s several meaningful missionary trips.
Having served people of all religions and races around the world, Doyle says, now, God’s plan for him entails serving South Jersey, as he was recently elected as a one-year transitional pastor with Berlin Baptist Church.
“We felt called to come back to the United States after about 10 years of service working in Central Asia,” he said.
Although his prayers have resonated across continents, Doyle, a Medford Lakes native, is returning to his roots. After graduating Shawnee High School, he earned a bachelor’s degree from Ursinus College and eventually a master’s of divinity degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts.
Following his education, Doyle served as an intern and then eventually as the director of a homeless and affordable housing organization in Mt. Holly. Amid his service here, Doyle was ordained by the American Baptist Churches USA, earning his license to preach in 1992.
Around this time, Doyle embarked on his first short-term mission trip to St. Petersburg, where he stumbled upon people of all faiths who found themselves spiritually lost after the fall of the USSR.
“When the Soviet Union collapsed, there was a lot of openness — like a vacuum,” he said. “Muslim, Jewish and Christian faiths all suffered under the communism.”
After marrying his wife in 1996, the pair was compelled to preach the word of God to those particularly needy, as Doyle felt inspired to travel the world once again.
“We felt called to missions, to work overseas,” he said.
The married couple’s first missionary trip was to Belarus — a graveyard of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, which is considered to be the worst nuclear disaster in history, vastly poisoning the people and land of Eastern Europe. As winds blew from Ukraine, where Chernobyl was located, Doyle says Belarus received 90 percent of the nuclear fallout.
While there, he recalls connecting with an Eastern Orthodox Christian priest — something uncharted for Doyle.
“He didn’t speak much English, and I didn’t speak much Russian, but he said ‘Christ among’ us,” Doyle said. “I wanted to connect with a person of the faith that’s from that religion. … We had Christ in common. That was one goal of that I had. The other was to see what I could do there to help.”
After returning from Belarus, Doyle wanted to dedicate his life to more missionary work, leading to his education at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., where he earned a master’s of arts degree in intercultural studies.
But his plans to return overseas were postponed, as he was summoned to serve as the pastor of an elders’ church in Los Angeles for a few years, followed by his work as a senior pastor at a church along the Puget Sound in Washington for two years. Around this time, the couple had two children.
But, the now-growing family did not lose sight of their intent to return to missions.
“It was just a matter of time before our calling came,” he said.
After completing his pastorship in Washington in 2006, they were called to spend a year working in Tajikistan.
“When the Soviet Union collapsed, a lot of people felt strongly that they need to hear about Jesus,” he said. “A lot of the people that lived in these countries rejected Orthodox Christianity, because it was the Soviet Union. It (the country) was their landlords. They were the colonizers. So, we wanted to offer another version of Chrinsity to them.”
Amid a bloody civil war in the 1990s, the nation experienced a series of dictators after the Soviet Union fell and a vying for power raged.
As a nation plagued with poverty and bribery, Doyle recalls unbelievable sights, such as seeing car gasoline sold in coke bottles on the side of the road or police coercing visitors to purchase them alcohol. He even remembers hearing about women weeping outside of hospitals, because poor electricity caused baby incubators to crash.
“Tajikistan was beautiful people. We loved them,” he said. “But yet there was corruption… That was the world we entered.”
Yet, Doyle says, despite adversity, the people were grateful.
“They appreciate you when you’re there — that you take the time to live with them, work with them and you’re not afraid of the water or the corruption,” Doyle said. “It’s standing with people who are going through a rough time.”
After spending a year here, the family ventured to Kyrgyzstan in 2009 where they’d stay until 2017.
Also an incredibly corrupt nation, the country faced two major revolutions, one of which the Doyles lived through in 2010, known as the Second Kyrgyz Revolution.
He described hearing a violent standoff that unfolded just a quarter a mile away where protesters smashed through the gates of the capitol building.
“It was a tough time but, I think, the people said, ‘We will not stand for corruption,’” Doyle said.
Since the Doyles’ residence in Kyrgyzstan, the country held its first successful election in October after the president stepped down.
“I think they’re on the move in growing and becoming a successful country,” Doyle said. “We hoped we played a part in making that a better society for them.”
With years of worldly wanderings and worships, Doyle is taking his experiences home, translating what he’s seen, learned and preached to the parsionshers of Berlin.
“I was thankful that I was able to be a part of something. For us, it was how to help Central Asia,” Doyle said. “It was a lot of energy and time and research and language study and trying to learn everything we could to be helpful. And, then, it was just going with an attitude that ‘We’re here to help you. What can we do?’”
Along with a sense of togetherness, Doyle is bringing back with him an appreciation for the persecuted church, recognizing that although the United States faces its own challenges, Americans are fortunate to practice freedom of religion.
Whether those suffering or serene, religious or nonreligious, Doyle hopes to connect with as many people as possible while in Berlin, reaching out to them with new visions and approaches, like welcoming people to his home.
“(My family is) more thankful that God has something for us. That he still wants us to be used here. I think we’re probably very happy people that God wants to use us in America,” Doyle said. “And this church seems like a good match.”
