Alan Donaldson, a pastor and former General Director of the Baptist Union of Scotland has been nominated to be the new EBF General Secretary, in succession to Tony Peck who will retire from the role at the end of October. This was the unanimous recommendation of a specially-appointed Search Group chaired by the EBF President, Meego Remmel. The Group represented all regions of the EBF and included the BWA General Secretary Elijah Brown. The nomination for election now has to be endorsed by the EBF Council meeting in September.
After some years in business management, Alan Donaldson studied at the London Bible College before becoming an itinerant children’s evangelist. During this period, he was appointed by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association as a Children’s Programme Project Manager based in Moscow, Russia. After further study at the Scottish Baptist College, he then had children’s and youth work ministries in Denny and Leven Baptist Churches in Scotland. He then took on senior pastorates at Leven Baptist Church and Dumfries Baptist Church, these churches experiencing significant growth under his leadership.
From 2010 to 2019 Alan served as General Director of the Baptist Union of Scotland and during this period was an active member of the Council of the EBF. This culminated with Alan leading the organisation of a very successful EBF Council in Scotland in 2019.
Recently Alan added to his existing theology degree with an MTh in Applied Theology from Spurgeon’s College. He is married to Ruth and they have two grown-up children. He is a keen sportsman.
In his submission to the Search Group Alan wrote, “In each of the roles since leaving college, I have also had a responsibility to set a spiritual tone within the church or team. I believe that throughout my ministry there has been an evident expectation that: Christ is alive and therefore we believe by faith that he will work out his purposes in and through us; that he hears our prayers and inspires them; that engagement with him through his Word and in worship is central to our being and precedes anything we do or say.”
EBF President who chaired the Search Group, Meego Remmel, commented on Alan’s nomination to the Council, "Alan Donaldson embodies a very unique character in his Christ-likeness and is greatly gifted by God’s Spirit. His visionary leadership skills and experience will empower both EBF and BWA in his role. The search group, including the General Secretary of the Baptist World Alliance, was inspired to choose him as a result of our prayerful discernment. We were impressed by his evangelistic and disciple-making vision for baptistic people and mission in today's world.”
