It feels unreal but we are approaching the end of 2012. Another year, which was filled with many events and experiences, some good and some may be not so good, is becoming history. Surely we can witness the grace and mercy of our Lord and Saviour upon us all. Such is the case with us personally but also with us as Board members and tutors and administrators of GST.
GST is blessed with a group of people, the Board of Directors, Tutors, and an Administration who are outstanding. All of them are committed, focused, talented, experienced, but humble and faithful, completely aware that our gifts and abilities are from God Himself.
I want to thank all of you! Our new directors of the Board, proff. Eric Peels,Paul Wells, Johan Du Toit Heilna Du Plooy, and dr Christopher Lamb joined us this year, and have already shown their value and contribution to the benefit of GST. Our well established and experienced Directors served faithfully and positively as ever. They were the anchors and towers of strength on which I always could rely. With the death of Stuart Sime earlier this year, we lost a very loyal and capable director and secretary of the Board, who served GST over a long period of time with dedication and love. Fortunately we have in prof Johan du Toit, who is willing to take up the position of secretary of the Board, a person who is well equipped to succeed Stuart and who will serve in this capacity.
We had the privilege to appoint a number of tutors during 2012: drr Sarah Bartel, Edward Dalcour, Rob Elkington, Jonathan Friedmann, Russel Murray, Aleksander Santrac (prof), Syngwon Suh, and we are busy with prof Paul Wells and dr Neil Allison. Thank you for your willingness and commitment. You add a lot of value to our institution and to the NWU.
The heart and soul of GST is to be found in the Central office in the UK, and in the office in the RSA. Peg Evans (liaison administrator) and Karen Kirk who personally assists Peg in the office in Retford, with Tienie Buys and Thercia van der Merwe (supported by Heleen Dreyer for some hours weekly) in Potchefstroom are very special people who are performing in an excellent way and who deserve our respect and gratitude. Our executive committee who work closely and continuously with our administration is well aware of the level and standard of the work they are doing. Again I want to pay tribute to prof Byron Evans whom we honoured and awarded for all what he have done on behalf of GST, and what he is still doing, supporting and assisting Peg in a special way.
The Convocation in October 2012 at South-Africa House in London was in many respects a high light in the history of GST. This event, and what happened during the day of the convocation, are reflected on our website, and in the PowerPoint presentations from the VC of NWU, the dean of the faculty of theology and of GST during the meeting of the Board with the delegates from the management of NWU and were made available to those who wished to look at them again.
Currently our administration and management are attending to the design of another and new website for GST. We are using skilled and professional IT specialists to support and help us in this endeavour. It is circulated to some of our members, such as Johan Govea, Johan du Toit and others for comments and advice. It promises to be of fine quality, to be effective and from January 2013 ready to be implemented.
We are looking forward to 2013. For the first meeting of the Board of Directors (probably in April) the Executive Committee will try and submit a framework for our strategic-planning session, apart from our normal agenda. We also have in mind the training of our tutors to enable, equip and update them with what they need to know for the execution of their responsibilities. Management has attended seriously to our financial policy and practices, sharpened the financial discipline in general and will report to the Board of Directors early in 2013 about the budget and developments in this regard. Our expectation is that 10 students will receive their PhD-degrees in 2013, and 1 his MA. This is indeed another remarkable achievement of the students, the tutors, promoters and administration who all played a particular role to make this happen.
We also are thankful and enthusiastic about the initiatives of our newly appointed chair of the alumni society in the person of prof Aleksander Santrac. To all our alumni who are connected to GST and who are interested in what we are doing, and to all our enrolled students who are doing research and writing dissertations, we convey our best wishes. Thank you for choosing GST as your alma mater and institution so that we can jointly share your ideals and dreams and participate in order to have it fulfilled.
Both our offices will be closed from the 18th December 2012 until the 7th January 2013.
A special word of appreciation to GST as an A-team. Thank you for your support and cooperation in 2012!
May God bless you all. May you experience a peaceful Christmas and may you enjoy a prosperous 2013.
Kind regards,
Prof AleR du Plooy
CEO/DEAN: Greenwich School of Theology
