I am writing to you for the last time as TSCF’s National Director. It has been an enormous privilege to help lead the Fellowship over the past 13 years, and I am very grateful for all the help, encouragement and support.
I have had cause recently to remember our heritage as a movement. In November, it was great to meet Robert Withycombe, who was General Secretary from 1968 to 1971. We shared a lunch with former staff, board members and friends of the Fellowship, who shared stories from their respective eras. On October 6 we said goodbye to another former General Secretary, Wilf Malcolm. I had the great privilege to get to know Wilf and to see the tremendous impact he made, not only in TSCF, but in the university sector and wider community. I have been very conscious during these years in New Zealand of standing on the shoulders of giants.
TSCF is in good heart. We are seeing students coming to faith and growing in their discipleship. It is fantastic to see the calibre of graduates that we are sending into the workplace, and the impact many of them are already making in their chosen calling, both here and around the world. I am delighted that Ben Carswell is starting as the new National Director, and believe he will do a fantastic job leading the staff team. The context that TSCF works in has grown harder. Navigation is more complex with the headwinds of secularism and pluralism, of ethical standards moving away from any biblical basis, and a generation where adolescence is lasting longer.
One of my concerns as I move on is to see the work increasingly well funded. My last act as National Director is to ask for your support in the future. Would you consider making a one-off gift to help the movement through this leadership transition, and would those of you who give consider increasing your support?
Thank you again for your partnership in the gospel. My prayer is that this will continue into the future.
Nigel D. Pollock