Diocese of St Mark the Evangelist

Suffragan Bishop John Ruston was sent to Polokwane (then, Pietersburg) to oversee the northern region of the Diocese of Pretoria.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Metropolitan and Bishop of Anglican Diocese of Cape Town, conducted the service held at Christ Church, Polokwane.

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.

The service was conducted by the recently retired Bishop Duncan Buchanan, from the Anglican Diocese of Johannesburg on behalf of the Metropolitan.

The diocese registered a coat of arms at the Bureau of Heraldry in 1998 : Argent, in chief a Lion of St. Mark with a scroll issuant from the mouth and flexed between the legs, and in base a baobab tree, sans leaves, Purpure; the shield ensigned of an Episcopal mitre proper.

The greater part of the medical staff came from the United Kingdom, supplemented by doctors from Canada, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Germany and South Africa.

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 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.