About the Diocese of False Bay
The Diocese of False Bay was carved from the eastern part of the old Diocese of Cape Town, mother diocese of the Anglican Church in southern Africa. Established in 1847, the Diocese of Cape Town initially encompassed vast tracts of land in the south-eastern corner of Africa. Its 20th century boundaries were delineated where it bordered the diocese of George to the east, Kimberley and Kuruman to the north-west and Namibia to the north.
However, as early as the 1960s it became clear that the Diocese of Cape Town, which traversed an area up to the Namibian border in the north and halfway to the town of George in the east, was becoming unmanageable. Nearly 40 years and seven commissions of inquiry later, the old diocese resolved to “multiply” and become three, namely The Diocese of Table Bay, the Diocese of Saldanha Bay and the Diocese of False Bay.
The Diocese of False Bay was inaugurated on the first Sunday in Advent in 2005, in a historic development reflecting the growth of the Anglican Church in the Western Cape.
The Diocese stretches from the Atlantic coast of the southern Cape Peninsula in the west to the Overberg region of the Western Cape in the east, and from Cape Agulhas – the southern-most tip of Africa – in the south to the edge of the Koue Bokkeveld in the north. It incorporates communities ranging from the densely-populated suburbs of Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain on the Cape Flats to the seaside towns of False Bay and the southern Cape coast. Its people work in every kind of undertaking from the factories of Cape Town to the wheat farms of the Overberg to the Wine Farms of Stellenbosch and the Breede Valley and the fishing industry on the coast. Parishes offer services in the three official languages of the Western Cape – Afrikaans, English and IsiXhosa – as determined by the community it serves.
The inauguration of the Diocese of False Bay was the first step in this process. The Diocese comprises 49 parishes in six archdeaconries, with diocesan headquarters centred in the town of Somerset West.
OUR VISION:
The Diocese of False Bay seeks to be an integrated Eucharistic Community bringing wholeness and empowered service to all in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
OUR MISSION AS A DIOCESE IS TO….
Promote spiritual growth through worship and liturgy that enhances, empowers and integrates the gifts and skills of the people of God through discipleship.
Promote and celebrate the richness of our diversity as Anglicans living in Southern Africa.
Reflect the love of God and our love for each other by mobilizing the people of God for Christian service through: Church Planting, Outreach to young people and others in need, promoting Christian-family values and educating and training clergy and laity.
Be a visible, affirming, adaptable and relevant Christian Community.