Executive Committee Roles

Various members of the Executive Committee have specific responsibility within SST. These roles are outlined in detail below. For more information or to nominate yourself or someone else for these roles, please contact admin@theologysociety.org.uk.

Secretary (currently not available)

Normally serves a term of 2 – 3 years.
Exercises day-to-day responsibility on behalf of the committee for the society’s administration.
Finds and books the venue for annual conference, including undertaking a site visit.
Prepares the administrative elements of the annual report in conformity with Charity Commission rules.
Acts as the main point of liaison between the conference centre and the society.
Books annual conference speakers, in consultation with the committee.
Places a print advertisement for the annual conference (in, e.g., The Expository Times, Theology).
Updates the pre-conference administrative calendar.
Updates the publisher information sheet before bookings open.
Updates the website as needed.
Solicits sponsorship for the two receptions.
Receives bursary applications, prioritizes applications for acceptance and notifies unsuccessful applicants of the outcome.
Prepares conference documents, including timetable, paper schedule, abstracts and plenary papers.
In conjunction with the International Journal of Systematic Theology, administers the Colin Gunton Essay Prize.
Prepares committee meeting agendas, takes the minutes and circulates them for approval.
Oversees the smooth running of the conference and makes necessary announcements.
Prepares the AGM agenda, takes the minutes and presents them for approval.
Deposits a set of conference documents in the SST archive at the University of Leeds.

As an Officer of the Society, the Secretary receives an Honorarium set at £1250 per year.

Treasurer (not currently available)

Normally serves a term of 2 – 3 years.
Exercises day-to-day responsibility on behalf of the committee for the society’s finances, including via online banking.
Updates the society’s annual budget, including setting the conference budget and determining charges.
Prepares the statistical and financial elements of the annual report including end-of-year financial
statements in conformity with Charity Commission rules.
Raises invoices on behalf of the society and chases payment if needed.*
Receives automated joining and contact requests from the website and administers the joining process.
Administers each November the online renewal of international members without a sterling bank account.
In consultation with the secretary, sends the calls for proposals/bursaries and bookings to the mailing list.
Administers the conference booking process, receiving automated bookings and payments and dealing with issues on a daily basis as these arise.*
Prepares a final detailed list of bookings for the conference centre, extracted from the database, to meet their deadline.*
Lapses members who have not paid their subscription.
Monitors the admin@theologysociety.org.uk email address, responding to messages promptly or forwarding them to the secretary as appropriate.
Receives requests for messages to be sent to the mailing list, sends them and raises invoices.*
Acts as the main point of liaison with the independent examiner, including meeting with them to discuss the annual report and financial statements prior to their circulation for presentation at the AGM.
Maintains the SST website and acts the main point of liaison with the website developers.
Archives the past five years of financial records as required by Charity Commission rules.

A clerical support budget of up to £2,000 is available to assist with the tasks marked*, which may be delegated. With committee agreement, this sum may be increased to £3,000. As an Officer of the Society, the Treasurer receives an Honorarium set at £1250 per year.

If you are interested in becoming Treasurer, please contact the current SST Treasurer via admin@theologysociety.org.uk.

A fuller description of the Treasurer and Secretary roles can be found here.

Assistant Secretary (Theology & Race) (currently not available)

The SST Constitution provides for the possibility that an Assistant Secretary be chosen annually by the Executive Committee from among its ordinary members, to serve for no longer than six consecutive terms. Since April 2018, the Committee has selected an Assistant Secretary to lead on its ‘Theology and Race’ initiative, to fulfil and build on the 7 recommendations of its ‘Theology and Race report’ (2016). You can find out more about that work, and a copy of the report, here.

The principal responsibility of the Assistant Secretary is to take a lead in coordinating work to fulfil and build on the recommendations of the report, and facilitate the development of aims and strategies and the participation of Committee members and others to that end. Together with other Officers, the Assistant Secretary will also help the Committee be attentive and proactive to other issues of equality, diversity and transformation with respect to people marginalised in various ways (e.g. gender, dis/ability, class, sexuality).

In particular, the Assistant Secretary:

Updates the Annual General Meeting on progress in this initiative and supplies a written summary of progress for publication on the SST Theology and Race webpage following the conference.
Puts together the agenda for the Committee’s meeting with the SST Advisory Board at its June meeting.
Maintains and circulates an up-to-date Action Log and regularly checks on the progress of ongoing actions.
Convenes meetings of the Committee’s subgroup on Theology and Race as needed.
Maintains and circulates a calendar of events relevant to this work, seeks to attend a reasonable number of these where possible and to encourage other members (and, as appropriate) other members of the Society) to participate also.
Coordinates the Committee’s efforts to build trust and relationships with individuals and organisations in order to learn from them, spread the word about the SST, and where appropriate, explore opportunities for partnership in keeping with the Society’s Objects and Purposes.
Takes a share in the tasks of the subgroup and the Committee relating to the Theology and Race initiative.
Undertakes/responds to email correspondence with other Officers, the BAME reps and others as necessary about issues arising that relate to the Theology and Race initiative and diversity more generally.
Respond to queries and offers of assistance in this work.

As an Officer of the Society, the Assistant Secretary (Theology & Race) receives an Honorarium set at £625 per year.

Assistant Secretary (Theology & Race)

Global Majority Heritage Representatives (currently not available)

The Constitution of the Society of the Study of Theology (SST) provides for two Global Majority Heritage (GMH) representatives. The GMH representatives are elected to the SST Executive Committee at the Annual General Meeting of the SST and serve for a period of three years.

GMH is broadly understood and anyone who identifies as GMH, or Majority World, or of BAME or Majority World Heritage is eligible to stand for this position.

The GMH representatives will serve on the SST Executive Committee in the same manner as other committee members but will also help to ensure that the voices of GMH scholars and their interests are consistently represented in the meetings of the SST Executive Committee. GMH representatives will also be a bridge between SST and other theological groups that represent and include Majority World scholars and constituencies in the UK and around the world. For more information about how the Society functions and the role of the Executive Committee click here.

The GMH representatives will work closely with the Assistant Secretary on the ongoing work of the Society with regard to Theology and Race. For more information about this work, click here.

There are currently two co-opted GMH members of the Executive Committee who specifically work with the Assistant Secretary and the wider committee on the Society’s work in Theology and Race – Dulcie McKenzie and Anthony Reddie. Please do contact either of them for an informal discussion about this role. The Society is very grateful to both Dulcie and Anthony for their ongoing work in this area.

BAME Representatives