Anglican Diocese of St Mark the Evangelist
Encyclopedia
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
.
History
The area now known as the Diocese of St Mark the Evangelist used to be part of the Anglican Diocese of PretoriaAnglican Diocese of Pretoria
-History:The diocese originally covered the whole of the South African Republic, which later became the Transvaal province of South Africa. In 1922 the Diocese of Johannesburg, covering the Southern Transvaal, was formed. In the 1980s and 1990s several new dioceses were formed.The northernmost part...
. The Anglican church in the North was administered by the Diocesan Administrator and Bishops in Pretoria. The ordination of deacons and priests was done at St Albans Cathedral in Pretoria. The Bishop and Suffragan Bishop of the Diocese of Pretoria would visit the area to take confirmation services and to preside at other special occasions. Suffragan Bishop John Ruston
John Harry Gerald Ruston
John Harry Gerald Ruston OGS was the 13th Bishop of St Helena from 1991 to 1999. He was previously Bishop Suffragan of Pretoria. He died in retirement in England in 2010.-Early life:...
was sent to Polokwane (then, Pietersburg) to oversee the northern region of the Diocese of Pretoria. Under his leadership a new diocese was established in the North by the name of St Mark the Evangelist. The Diocese of St Mark the Evangelist was inaugurated on 16 May 1987.
Philip Le Feuvre was elected a bishop in August 1987 and consecrated as the first bishop of the new diocese on 30 January 1988. Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Desmond Tutu
Desmond Mpilo Tutu is a South African activist and retired Anglican bishop who rose to worldwide fame during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid...
, Metropolitan and Bishop of Anglican Diocese of Cape Town
Anglican Diocese of Cape Town
The Anglican Diocese of Cape Town, South Africa, came into being in 1847 with the consecration of the first bishop, Robert Gray, and later expanded to become the Church of the Province of Southern Africa, now called the Anglican Church of Southern Africa....
, conducted the service held at Christ Church Polokwane
Christ Church Polokwane
Christ Church is a parish in the Anglican Diocese of St Mark the Evangelist, which falls under the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. It is the only Anglican church in Polokwane . The church has a long and diverse history going back over a hundred years.-History:Pietersburg was founded in 1886...
. Bishop Philip's vision was for a diocese that would be involved in evangelism and church planting across the Limpopo Province, the least evangelised area of South Africa. His forthright devotion to mission fundamentals typified the work of St Mark the Evangelist’s first bishop.
Martin Breytenbach was installed as the second bishop of the diocese on 12 February 2000. The service was conducted by the recently retired Bishop Duncan Buchanan, Anglican Diocese of Johannesburg
Anglican Diocese of Johannesburg
The Anglican Diocese of Johannesburg is part of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. It was formed in 1922 from the southern part of the Diocese of Pretoria, and at that time included the whole of the southern Transvaal...
on behalf of the Metropolitan. The service was held at the Mokopane College of Education in the Parish of Mahwelereng.
Administration
The diocese shadows the geographical area of the Limpopo Province. Given the size, the diocese has been divided into sub-regions, known as Archdeaconries, to facilitate better administrative and leadership processes. The diocese initially had only four Archdeaconries, which corresponded with the four main roads in the Limpopo Province. They were the Archdeaconries of the North, Centre, South and Mopani. Due to the multiplication of parishes in 2008, another Archdeaconry was added in 2009 and some of the parishes re-allocated. The archdeaconries and parishes that fall under them are as follows:Archdeaconry of the North
- ZoutpansbergZoutpansbergZoutpansberg was the north-eastern division of the Transvaal, South Africa. This was the district to which Louis Tregardt and Jan van Rensburg, the forerunners of the Great Trek, journeyed in 1835. In 1845 Hendrik Potgieter, a prominent leader of the Voortrekkers, moved there...
parish - MusinaMusinaMusina or Messina is the northernmost town in the Limpopo province of South Africa near the Limpopo River border to Zimbabwe. It has a population of between 20,000 and 40,000. Iron ore, coal, magnetite, graphite, asbestos, diamonds, semi-precious stones and copper are mined in the...
mission - SibasaSibasaTshivhase is a town in Limpopo Province, South Africa and the former capital city of the Venda bantustan. When Venda was declared independent in 1979, the capital was moved to Thohoyandou. The corrupted name Sibasa appears a lot in South African media.In fact, the correct Venda word is Tshivhase...
parish
Archdeaconry of the Centre
- Christ Church PolokwaneChrist Church PolokwaneChrist Church is a parish in the Anglican Diocese of St Mark the Evangelist, which falls under the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. It is the only Anglican church in Polokwane . The church has a long and diverse history going back over a hundred years.-History:Pietersburg was founded in 1886...
parish - Extension 44
- SeshegoSeshegoSeshego is a town in the Limpopo province of South Africa. The town lies directly northwest of Polokwane. In 2001 its population was 121,639. Until 1974 Seshego was the capital of the non-independent bantustan of Lebowa, which was abolished in 1994...
parish - Moletsi parish
- Matlala parish
Capricorn Archdeaconry
- Sekhukhuneland parish
- St Mark's College
- LebowakgomoLebowakgomoLebowakgomo was the capital of the former bantustan of Lebowa. Lebowakgomo lies southeast of the Limpopo town of Polokwane. Lebowakgomo is surrounded by villages, Mogodi and Phutimolle north east, Mamaolo on the east, Makurung and Lekhuswaneng being south east.-History:The township was...
Southern Archdeaconry
- Mashashane parish
- Baken-Matji mission
- MokopaneMokopaneMokopane , is a town in the Limpopo province of South Africa. The town was established by the Voortrekkers and named Potgietersrus after the slain Voortrekker leader Piet Potgieter...
parish - Mapela parish
- St Andrew parish
Mopani Archdeaconry
- Letaba parish
- St Luke's parish
- St Paul's United
- Baobab parish
Synods
A Synod is the highest decision-making body of the diocese. A Bishop may assemble a Synod as often as he thinks fit and shall not do so less than once every three years. Clergy and lay people are summoned to the Synod at least four months before the appointed sitting of Synod. The summons is by citation under the Bishop's hand and seal. Diocesan organisations such as the Anglican Women's Fellowship, Mothers' UnionMothers' Union
Mothers’ Union is an international Christian charity that seeks to support families worldwide. Its members are not all mothers or even all women, as there are many parents, men, widows, singles and grandparents involved in its work...
and Anglican Students' Federation elect a person to represent them on Synod.
A session of Synod is convened and run with very formal procedures. Motions, proposals and reports must be submitted to a duly constituted Synod Committee before Synod commences. Synod business is arranged and compiled into an Agenda book, which is circulated several weeks before the start of Synod. Synod is opened with a celebration of the Holy Communion. After the Nicene Creed
Nicene Creed
The Nicene Creed is the creed or profession of faith that is most widely used in Christian liturgy. It is called Nicene because, in its original form, it was adopted in the city of Nicaea by the first ecumenical council, which met there in the year 325.The Nicene Creed has been normative to the...
the Registrar, confirms that a quorum is present and informs the Bishop. The Bishop then declares the Synod open.
Synod business typically deals with a report from the Finance Board, reports from Diocesan Boards and Institutions, actions from resolutions passed at previous Synods, motions and proposals, and elections to Diocesan and Provincial offices/boards. One of the most important aspects of a Synod is the Bishop's Charge to Synod, which outlines his vision, priorities and challenges to the diocese.
- 2003 - Bishop's Charge:
- 2006 - Bishop's Charge: "Make Disciples - Transform the World"
- 2009 - Bishop's Charge: "God's Covenant People"
Jane Furse Memorial Hospital
Michael Bolton FurseMichael Bolton Furse
The Rt Rev Michael Bolton Furse, KCMG, DD was an eminent Anglican Bishop in the first half of the 20th century. Born in 1870 and educated at Eton and Trinity College, Oxford, he was ordained in 1897. He was Fellow and Dean of his old college then Archdeacon of Johannesburg. In 1904 the Baker...
and American wife, Frances, moved to South Africa from England in 1903. Their only child, a daughter, Jane was born on 19 August 1904. In 1909 Michael Furse was consecrated the Bishop of Pretoria . When Bishop Michael trekked around the vast Anglican Diocese of Pretoria
Anglican Diocese of Pretoria
-History:The diocese originally covered the whole of the South African Republic, which later became the Transvaal province of South Africa. In 1922 the Diocese of Johannesburg, covering the Southern Transvaal, was formed. In the 1980s and 1990s several new dioceses were formed.The northernmost part...
, Jane would sometimes accompany him. She became sorrowfully aware of the poverty and disease rife among the African people. She made up her mind to be a doctor in order to serve them. But Jane contracted scarlet fever
Scarlet fever
Scarlet fever is a disease caused by exotoxin released by Streptococcus pyogenes. Once a major cause of death, it is now effectively treated with antibiotics...
and died on 3 August 1918. She was buried at a cemetery in Irene in Pretoria.
In 1921 work began on a hospital to be built in her memory in a part of the diocese known as Sekhukhuneland. The hospital was named the Jane Furse Memorial Hospital. It grew in reputation in South Africa and internationally as a centre of excellence. The greater part of the medical staff came from the United Kingdom, supplemented by doctors from Canada, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Germany and South Africa. Medical students came from the USA, Germany and Israel to gain valuable experience. As the mission hospital grew, so did the town, businesses and services around Jane Furse, which eventually become known by the name of the hospital.
On the 1 May 1976 the hospital was taken over by the Lebowa
Lebowa
Lebowa was a bantustan located in the Transvaal in north eastern South Africa. Seshego initially acted as Lebowa's capital while the purpose-built Lebowakgomo was being constructed. Granted internal self-government on 2 October 1972 and ruled for much of its existence by Cedric Phatudi, Lebowa...
Government at the insistence of the South African government. As part of the process of land restitution in the Limpopo Province, the extensive hospital complex and agricultural grounds were returned to the Anglican Diocese of St Mark the Evangelist in 2004. The government remained in control of the hospital while a new complex was being built on the outskirts of the town of Jane Furse.
When the hospital was decommissioned in 2008 and moved into the new Jane Furse Hospital, everything of value, including items of historical interest, were stripped and sold off, leaving the buildings derelict. The Anglican Diocese of St Mark the Evangelist is seeking compensation from the relevant government departments for the damage to the property.
A slow process of rehabilitating the Jane Furse Memorial Hospital and grounds for use of a range of non-medical activities is being undertaken, in the hope that it can once again be a place of service to the surrounding community. It currently houses the Jane Furse fire brigade, a post-natal clinic, a crèche and a centre for disabled children. An NGO is using part of the agricultural land to train people in appropriate small-scale farming techniques. A drop-in centre for children is also housed next door to the old hospital complex and St Mark’s College.
Sources
- Desmond Tutu: Rabble-Rouser for Peace, by John Allen
- Diocesan Rules (2003), Diocese of St Mark the Evangelist, Anglican Church of Southern Africa
- The Development of Indigenous Leadership in the Church of the Province of Southern Africa, With Special Reference to the Diocese of St Mark the Evangelist, by M. S. J Ledwaba (2005), University of Pretoria, Doctoral Thesis