Colleagues pay handsome tributes
to General Secretary

n Mr Macdonald at Midrand: the UBS World Assembly was ‘a cornerstone’ of his time as General Secretary

READING, England — UBS colleagues have paid handsome tributes to the Rev Fergus Macdonald, the UBS General Secretary, who retires on February 28. At a meeting of the UBS Global Senior Management Team (GSMT) in Nairobi in November, the General Secretary was presented with a book of tributes and photographs from his colleagues in the team.

Mr Macdonald, 65, retires after four years of service. Prior to taking up the post he was General Secretary of what was then called the National Bible Society of Scotland (now the Scottish Bible Society) where he had served since 1981.

Man of the Word

The Rev Miller Milloy, a fellow Scot and Regional Secretary of Europe-Middle East, called him “an enormous influence on the Church of our time, in our native Scotland, across Europe and throughout the world”. Mr Macdonald, he said, was a man of the Word, a man of vision who had shown his own willingness to learn and grow, and a man of humour who could switch with ease from discussing some weighty topic to sharing a frivolous anecdote.

The Rev Daniel Bitrus, Regional Secretary for Anglophone Africa, said he would miss Mr Macdonald very much. He congratulated him on transforming the GSMT into “a truly global” team while David Hammond, Regional Secretary for Francophone Africa, said he had “built a bridge from one era of UBS to the next.”

Teacher

Calling him a “great teacher of the Word”, Southern Africa Regional Secretary Peter Mkolesia told him, “You have helped us in our leadership roles to put the Word before our business”, and was among many who expressed gratitude for the General Secretary’s monthly bulletin For Your Information. “Timely counsel”, “inspirational messages” and “thought-provoking ideas” were among the phrases used to describe it.

One achievement which emerges as a cornerstone of his time as UBS General Secretary in the minds of his colleagues is the World Assembly of two years ago in Midrand, South Africa.

The culmination of two years’ preparation, it set the seal on the reshaping of the Fellowship’s governance structures, and adopted an expanded UBS Purpose Statement stressing the importance of helping people to interact with Scripture, as well as affirming the inter-confessional nature of the UBS. With its statement The Direction from Midrand, the Assembly determined the key emphases of the Bible Society movement’s work for the following four years.

Another achievement is the implementation of the UBS’s worldwide fundraising and Scripture distribution program Opportunity 21 (O-21).The four-year program is aiming, in Mr Macdonald’s words, to enable Bible Societies to take their work “to a higher level of effectiveness”, not just by significantly expanding the number of active Scripture programs, but by permanently expanding their ability to generate the resources they will need in the future.

Referring to these achievements and more, David Thorne, Regional Secretary for the Asia-Pacific Region, added, “You have been a true statesman in strategically representing the Fellowship at all levels within the global Christian community, interconfessionally, as a partner with all churches, and with other Bible agencies.”

Consultative

Reflecting on the past four years, Mr Macdonald said he was pleased that the UBS had developed an extensive consultative approach to the important decision-making it had undertaken. He said it had also put fundraising on a more professional basis and, at a time when World Service Program income had reached a plateau, it had managed to cut costs and still achieve more.

“The biggest achievement,” he said, “has been the launch of Opportunity 21, especially since it is being funded in the face of a difficult stock market.” The commitment by the American Bible Society (ABS) to match the funds said much about the ABS’s deep commitment to the Fellowship.
He also welcomed the UBS’s growing emphasis on work in partnership with other agencies, citing radio ministry, work with literacy agencies and the production of Scriptures for new readers. Partnerships, he said, had brought a pleasing focus on holistic ministries, which is proving “a powerful way of combining Word and deed.”

Asked about the future, he said that he hoped to undertake research into aspects of Scripture engagement under the auspices of Edinburgh University’s Department of Practical Theology. If the plan is confirmed, it will be a three-year program.

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