Gert Breed
Gert Breed is associate professor at the North-West University in South Africa. He lectures on pastoral theology, congregational and youth ministry. He received his ThB, ThM and ThD degrees from the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education. He is Director of the School for Minister’s Training at the North-West University and Rector of the Theological School of the Reformed Churches in South Africa. The current focus of his research is congregational ministry from the perspective of the daikon word group in the New Testament. Breed published various articles on the daikon word group and other subjects related to congregational ministry. He also contributed to a book on the meta-theoretical assumptions of research as well as a book on corruption in South Africa. He is co-editor of this book.
Stephan de Beer
Stephan de Beer is the Executive Director of the Centre for Contextual Ministry at the University of Pretoria where, amongst other things, the focus is on the training of community leaders in South Africa, Africa and beyond, for contextual engagement in their communities. He also provides ongoing leadership for developing and established Local Leadership Foundations throughout the continent of Africa. He grew up in the inner city of Tshwane which instilled in him a passion for urban centres and their potential to be real and sustainable homes for all people. He studied theology but always with a commitment to the urban vulnerable and poor. He did his practical internship in Hillbrow, Johannesburg in 1989 and saw the potential of Faith-based Organisations to address the challenges of inner city decay. He spent 6 months in Chicago in 1992, doing coursework in urban ministry and development, visiting almost forty urban projects, and connecting with faith-based social entrepreneurs in and around Chicago leading a movement of urban transformation. He was also introduced to Leadership Foundations at this time. Returning to South Africa in 1993, Stephan sensed that urban churches were ready to engage in reviving their parishes. He united six churches into a charitable trust that became Pretoria Community Ministries and eventually the Tshwane Leadership Foundation, with the knowledge that urban regeneration efforts had to become more radical, holistic, and transformative. He has published several articles in peer-reviewed academic journals, as well as chapters in scientific books.
Jan Grobbelaar
As a pastor, academic, advocate and trainer, Jan Grobbelaar has been involved with children for most of his career. He obtained his DTh in Practical Theology at the University of Stellenbosch in 2008 with a dissertation focussing on intergenerational children’s ministry. As staff member of Petra Institute for Children’s Ministry, he is a consultant for research and theological projects at tertiary level. He is an extraordinary staff member of the Unit for Reformed Theology and Development in the South African Society, at the North-West University, where he focusses on research and supervising post-graduate students. Grobbelaar is also a member of the postgraduate Faculty of the South African Theological Seminary, Johannesburg. Since the beginning of 2016 he has become involved as a research fellow at the Centre for Contextual Ministry at the University of Pretoria. Over the years he has been involved in various initiatives serving children on continental and global levels. He published several academic articles in peer-reviewed journals and chapters in books, and was the author of the book Child Theology in the African context (2012, Child Theology Movement). He co-edited this book. He is married to Marie, a primary school teacher, and they reside in the Western Cape, De Doorns. They have three children, Karlien, Schalk and Jan. He can be contacted at jan@petracol.org.za.
Nico Koopman
Nico Koopman received all his degrees at the University of the Western Cape. After serving as pastor in congregations of the Uniting Reformed Church, he was appointed as senior lecturer and vice-rector at the Huguenot College in Wellington. In 2001 he became a senior lecturer and in 2004 associate professor in the Department of Systematic Theology and Ecclesiology at Stellenbosch University. He was the Dean of the Faculty of Theology from 2010 until his appointment as acting Vice-Rector: Social Impact, Transformation and Personnel in May 2015. Since 2010 he was the Dean of the Faculty of Theology until he was appointed as acting Vice-Rector: Social Impact, Transformation and Personnel in May 2015. In May 2016 he was appointed permanently in this position. He is known as an outstanding church and academic leader with national and international acclaim. His research focuses on the implications of Christian faith for moral and public life. From the perspective of Trinitarian thinking he deals with various themes in ethical and public life. As a respected researcher, he has published various articles in South African and international journals and also chapters in books. He has won several awards for his contributions, including the Andrew Murray Prize for Theological Literature in 2003. He was one of the key role players in the establishment of the Beyers Naudé Centre for Public Theology in the Faculty of Theology, Stellenbosch University. Nico is married to Francina and they have two children, William and Marilize.
Elijah Mahlangu
Elijah Mahlangu is Emeritus Lecturer, Department of New Testament Studies, Faculty of Theology, Pretoria University. He received the following degrees: BEd (University of the North); BA Honours and MA (University of South Africa) and PhD (New Testament Studies) from the University of Pretoria. He taught Biblical Studies at school level and as senior lecturer at the University of Pretoria. Currently, he is a full-time minister in the Assemblies of God and a part-time lecturer at the University of Pretoria. He held several leadership positions, amongst others: General Secretary of the International Assemblies of God (1993–2005); General Secretary of the Alliance of Assemblies of God Churches in Southern Africa (2001–2005); and Director of the AIDS Ministry in the International Assemblies of God (1997–2006). He is also the founder and Director of South Africa Operation Whole (non-governmental organisation specialising in AIDS prevention, education, training and home-based care) and currently the project manager of the Assemblies of God AIDS intervention project funded by PMU and SIDA (Sweden). He has published several scholarly articles in peer-reviewed journals.
Malan Nel
Malan Nel is currently extra-ordinary professor in Practical Theology, University of Pretoria. In 2012 he retired as Director of the Centre for Contextual Ministry, Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria. This ecumenical centre, which he founded in 1992, still offers continuing theological training for pastors from a wide range of denominations and other Christian groups. He obtained, in 1982, his DD in Practical Theology at the University of Pretoria with a dissertation on youth evangelism by the Dutch Reformed Church. He specialises in congregational studies, evangelism, youth ministry and Christian education. He authored, or co-authored, more than 50 articles published in peer-reviewed journals, national and international. He also authored 39 academic books or parts of these books. Malan Nel is involved with many congregations in South Africa and preaches almost weekly somewhere in the country. He often consults in processes of missional congregational development. He facilitated analyses and strategic planning in more than 130 congregations.
Dirkie Smit
Dirkie Smit studied Philosophy and Theology at Stellenbosch University and obtained his BA, HonsBA (Philosophy), MA (Philosophy) and LicTheol, all cum laude. In 1979 he received his DTh in Systematic Theology. In 2008 he was honoured with a DPhil (honoris causa) from Umea, Sweden. He taught Systematic Theology at the Western Cape University from 1981 and since 2000 at Stellenbosch University. He was a visiting scholar at various universities and seminaries, including the University of Marburg, Duke University, Princeton Seminary, the Graduate Theological Union (Berkeley), Heidelberg University, Humboldt University, Falun University and Umea University. He has published more than 400 articles and chapters in refereed South African and international journals and books, including dictionaries, encyclopaedias and edited volumes. He received Festschriften on occasion of his 55th and 60th birthdays. He was the promotor of more than thirty completed doctoral dissertations. The majority of these students became full-time lecturers or professors, in at least eleven different scholarly disciplines, at several South African universities, and in several countries (including Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, Malawi, Zambia, South Africa, the Netherlands, Sweden, Korea and the USA). He has presented several international public lectures and lecture series and is regularly invited to participate in interdisciplinary projects and consultations. He is a member of the Uniting Reformed church of South Africa (URCSA) and is involved in many church activities, commissions, including international and ecumenical task groups. He is especially interested in reformed and ecumenical theology and in the public role of the church. Since 1996 he has written a weekly column in a newspaper. He is married to Ria (Jonker) and they have two children, Lise and Nico.
Pieter Verster
Pieter Verster was born in Heilbron, Free State Province, South Africa on 22 October 1954. He went to school at Vrede Primary, Willem Postma Primary in Bloemfontein, and Grey College Secondary in Bloemfontein. He studied at the University of the Free State and the University of Pretoria. He holds two doctorates from the University of Pretoria (in Missiology and Religious Studies and also in Dogmatics and Ethics). At present he is head of the Department of Missiology at the Faculty of Theology at the University of the Free State. He is a member and ordained minister of the Dutch Reformed Church. In 2008 he published a book: A Theology of Christian mission: What should the church seek to accomplish (Edwin Mellen Press, New York). In 2012 he published a second book: New hope for the poor (SunMedia, Bloemfontein). He is also a graded researcher of the National Research Foundation of South Africa. He is married to Ernéne (a librarian). They have two daughters, Wanda and Frida, and a son Pieter.
