Doug Wilson with Avant Ministries

Doug and Sheila Wilson are missionaries with Avant Ministries. They have been married for 23 years and have three boys - Austin (19), Loren (17) and Aaron (14). Both of them became Christians while students in college (Doug at UCD and Sheila at CSU). Doug later attended Denver Seminary where he graduated with a Master of Divinity degree (1987).

While Doug was a student at seminary they went on a short term mission trip to Republic of Mali. Mali is a Muslim country and one of the poorest countries in the world. This resulted in an interest in missions and consequently they applied and were appointed as career missionaries to Mali with Avant Ministries in 1987. Avant Ministries is a non-denominational church planting mission. After raising their support and studying French, they arrived in Mali in 1990. They served there from 1990 to 2002. While in Mali Doug was involved in evangelism, church planting and leadership training. From 2000 to 2002 Doug also served as field director for the mission.

In 2002 they returned home to the U.S. so Doug could pursue further studies in missions. He applied and was accepted into the PhD program in Intercultural Studies at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. He finished the program in 2006.

His dissertation examined how Protestant urban pastors in Mali survived financially when the churches they served in only provided one third of what they needed to live on. He also examined what experiences they had with the reception and use of foreign funding. When nearing the end of his studies he was reassigned by Avant Ministries to serve as an Intercultural Ministry Specialist so that the home office and the different fields where Avant works could take advantage of his experience and training.

His current ministry involves training, research, teaching, mobilizing, and networking.

Avant Ministries