About the Diocese of Grahamstown

The Towns: Industry and Education

The main urban centres are the East London/ Mdantsane/ King William’s Town conurbation and Grahamstown. Of these only the greater East London area has any significant industry. There are universities at Alice and East London (Fort Hare) and Grahamstown (Rhodes). Grahamstown is also the site of the CPSA’s residential theological college, the College of the Transfiguration, as well as a family of three Anglican schools: St Andrew’s Preparatory, Diocesan School for Girls, and St Andrew’s College. Education is the main “industry” of Grahamstown.

The rural areas

Agriculture looms large in the economy of the Eastern Cape as a whole, and it is a measure of the generally depressed state of the area that much of this consists of subsistence farming. This is particularly true of the former “homelands”. The whole of the Ciskei Homeland was contained within the borders of the Diocese of Grahamstown, as well as a portion of Transkei. Despite the re-incorporation of these areas into the Republic of South Africa in 1994, they remain among the poorest parts of the country. Some of the settlements which are the centres of parishes in this Diocese originated as “resettlement camps” at the time of the notorious removals of people from areas where they were not supposed to own land under the apartheid laws. Dimbaza is a notable example, as well as Sada and Ilinge in the present Diocese of Ukhahlamba.

Parishes

There are 45 parishes in the Diocese, but at least three times that number of worshipping congregations. These vary from large urban congregations meeting in well-maintained and spacious church buildings, to rural congregations meeting in wood and iron structures. In addition, many urban parishes also include in their ministry an old age home, a hospital and/ or a prison. These have not been included in the count of congregations.

In October 2009 the Diocese of Grahamstown was multiplied into two Dioceses:

Diocese of Grahamstown (45 Parishes): Towns include: Adelaide Alice Bedford East London Fort Beaufort Grahamstown King William's Town Komga Port Alfred Stutterheim

Diocese of Ukhahlamba (19 Parishes): Towns include: Aliwal North Barkly East Cathcart Lady Frere Molteno Queenstown Sterkspruit Whittlesea (Sada)

Rural parishes

All the parishes which have a large number of congregations are rural, Xhosa-speaking, and poor, e.g. St Matthew’s Mission and Peddie, as well as Sada, Lady Frere, St Michael’s and St Mary’s Missions in the Diocese of Ukhahlamba. In the days of Apartheid, all were in "homelands”.
St John’s Winterberg, built for a scattered congregation of farmers in the Alice Archdeaconry, serves one of the smallest parishes in the diocese.

Urban parishes

Urban parishes are more typically “one-church” parishes, perhaps with the addition of a single “daughter church” in an area of expansion. Since the demise of the Group Areas Act, many better-off families of all colours and language groups have been moving into previously “whites-only” areas. This fact is reflected in the make-up of Anglican urban and suburban congregations.

"Township" parishes

Parishes in the parts of the towns which used to be designated “townships” for black or so-called Coloured residents generally have few daughter churches. As the real estate in these areas is not considered particularly desirable, there has been less change in the demography than in the urban and suburban parishes.

Mission districts

“Mission Districts” are parishes in the process of development, in expanding areas of greater East London. They owe their foundation to Operation Outreach, a missionary arm of the Diocese. An example is Ncera, where St Stephen’s Church serves a Mission District some 50 km from East London. It was completed and consecrated in 2005. Operation Outreach is administered by volunteers in East London, and reaches out to people who have moved into new areas of the greater East London Region. St Andrew’s Mdantsane which is now a fully fledged parish, began as an Operation Outreach Mission District.