Douglas Chalmers MILL

MILL, DOUGLAS CHALMERS (b. Sydney NSW, 9 Feb 1918; d. Sydney, NSW, 5 May 1980). Baptist minister.

Doug Mill was the younger son of the Rev James Douglas Mill (q.v.), having one brother and six sisters, all dedicated to Jesus Christ. After education at North Sydney Boys' High School, he served the Main Roads Department for five years. Having already witnessed and appreciated his father's evangelical zeal, he was compelled to preach both from the pulpit and in the open air.

In 1940 Mill entered the NSW Baptist Theological College, Ashfield, under Principal G H Morling (q.v.), who had a lifelong influence on him. He excelled in sports, and in his final college year was carried shoulder high from the field at the Theological Intercollegiate sports, having won practically every athletic event of the day. Baptists for some years held a sports day on the first week-end in October at the Sydney Sports Ground, at which Mill also successfully participated. His prowess in several areas of sport was to be invaluable in his pastoral activities. As a student he pastored Boolaroo, Strathfield/Homebush and South Carlton churches. He became head student and was ordained in 1944. From 1962 he served on the college council, being elected its president for the years 1968-71. Mill raised the money for the erection of the Morling Chapel in 1973 at the present site of the college at Eastwood. Following his death, the college named one of the seminar rooms in Mill's memory.

After his marriage in 1945 there followed a vibrant ministry for five years at Bexley. His 21 year pastorate at Eastwood NSW from Feb 1951 until Dec 1971 saw attendance grow requiring the church and other buildings to be extended. He and the church members at Eastwood took opportunities where possible to help other churches. Mill was one of the first honorary chaplains of the Baptist Nursing Homes 'Shalom' at Marsfield and 'Yallambi' at Carlingford, and arranged for those able residents to be brought to his home for afternoon tea. He loved visiting, both in hospitals and homes. He made all people feel they were special to him, and they were: in times of people's dire need he never hesitated to be there. It has always been said of him that he had God-given intuition to be in the right place at the right time.

To old and young alike Doug Mill was known as a great raconteur. Children loved him and he them. His godly personality was full of fun, gentle but firm and not easily provoked. There was a willingness and tremendous capacity to fulfill what was asked of him. His two daughters declare he always had time for them. His love for his wife and family was rock solid. They have said no lives were more blessed by his godly influence and example than theirs. His home was regarded as much God's House as was the church, and was regularly used—and often to overflowing with young people. Mill opened his home and his pulpit to wonderful and inspiring men of God. After talking often with his friend, Sir Cyril Black, MP for Wimbledon, in the British House of Commons, he worked for the start of the Festival of Light in Sydney.

He was interim Youth Director for the Baptist Union of NSW, when he organised early in 1961 the first Australia-wide Baptist Youth Conference in Sydney. In 1963 he led a delegation to the tenth Baptist World Youth Conference in Beirut. En route, the captain of the ship Fairsky asked Mill to preach on the Sunday morning—in a monsoon. In Cairo he also shared in preaching, and on arrival in Jerusalem he was again invited to preach. In 1966 he returned to the Holy Land once more with a group of ministers after a month's missioning in Missouri, USA. In 1968 he attended the World Congress on Evangelism in Singapore. Once again in 1970 he was in attendance at the World Baptist Convention in Tokyo. Then in 1979 he attended the first Baptist Asian Conference at Hyderabad, India, going on to preach in Madras and Sri Lanka, and visiting another of 'his' missionaries at Bangalore who was with Gospel Recordings Inc.

After leaving the local pastorate, Mill was appointed as promotion officer of the Baptist Union of NSW for six years, preaching in almost 260 churches throughout the state. He was a longtime member of the Evangelical Alliance and the Evangelical Missionary Alliance. One of his greatest experiences was to preach in New York to a 1500 strong negro congregation. Another challenging experience was his month long visits to several of his missionaries in 1963 in Bolivia, when the deadly haemorrhagic fever was raging. He shared in their work with them travelling from the heights of the Andes, to the plains and jungle below and in their boat ministry along the Marmore River.

The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association appointed Mill as a member of the Board in Australia. He was heavily involved in all the Crusades and was Prayer Convenor in 1969. The Board members also came to his home for their first prayer and fellowship evenings. Mill was a signatory of the Lausanne Covenant. For the last two years of his life, the 'Back to the Bible Broadcast' (BBB) of Lincoln, Nebraska, USA, appointed him as 'Voice of Missions' for the South Pacific Region. This was broadcast on Monday nights on 25 radio stations throughout Australia. He also visited those in New Zealand who were supporters of BBB. His particular joy on his visit to the Solomon Islands was being able to arrange for BBB to broadcast the word of God in Pidgin English across the Islands, and this continues today. Doug Mill's life, lived to the glory of God, brimmed with wonderful health and energy beyond most. Sudden illness struck and he died three weeks later.

DOROTHY MILL