For over thirty years, the dioceses of Oxford and K&K have been sharing in mission.
The link is lived out in partnerships that connect people in parishes and ministries throughout both dioceses.
Snapshot
The Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman, also known as K&K, is located in the northwest part of South Africa and covers an area about the size of Germany, including substantial parts of the Northern Cape and North West provinces. It includes 46 parishes, many of them with multiple outstations. The churches are diverse in nature - large and small, in urban and rural settings, conducting worship in Tswana, Afrikaans, English, Xhosa and Sotho.
Bishop Brian Marajh was enthroned as K&K's bishop in 2021.
Find out more about the diocese and cathedral.
Historically, the diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman has come together for a 'family weekend' once a year - sometimes as a whole diocese, sometimes by archdeaconry. Alistair Andrews created a video from his photographs of the 2018 Family Weekend - a literal 'snapshot' of the diocese.
Our work together
Our partnership in the Gospel takes many forms. At diocesan level, we both share in prayer and reflection and work jointly on different areas of mission. Parish-to-parish links enable particular communities to develop strong friendships and partnerships of prayer and action.
Diocesan work
The diocesan links are founded on mutual friendship in Christ and shared learning. Over the years, we have presented at each other's diocesan conferences, shared thoughts around specific areas of work, and engaged in some larger scale projects together. In 2023, we held our 2nd link summit, bringing together people from both dioceses to share in worship, study, and discussion of key questions relating to our mission.
Find out more about the 2023 Link Summit
- The role of young people (16 to 35) in the church
- Care for creation and tackling climate change
- Gender justice and ending gender-based violence
- Training for both lay and ordained people
- Building resilient communities
Since then we have, among other things:
- Shared a youth exchange - four young adults from each diocese visited the other diocese in summer of 2024, exploring the link priorities in each place and bringing back their reflections on what each diocese could do learning from and walking alongside the other. Find out more about the visit from K and K to Oxford ... and the visit from Oxford to K and K.
- Held an online training day for early stage clergy from Oxford, Kimberley and Kuruman, and Vaxjo, in which the environmental coordinators for each diocese shared their work, and the clergy reflected on the learnings from this and what they could do in their parishes.
- Used a resource prepared by Bishop Brian, and a video of that resource prepared by the Diocese of Oxford's communications team, to raise awareness of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Based Violence.
Parish links
Vision
What does it mean to be a link parish? It's about sharing together in God's mission through prayer and action, learning from each other and growing together in love of God and neighbour. The following quote from the agreement signed by Huhudi and Moulsford gives a picture:
“We, the above, rejoicing in our unity as brothers and sisters in the Lord, wish to encourage each other in the work of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ and building the kingdom of God in our communities."
"We wish to grow together in understanding and love and to learn from each other about our calling, our vision and the challenges that face us. We will seek to achieve this by: regular communication and, where possible, personal visits, the giving and receiving of practical and spiritual support, the assurance of our love and prayers."
There are currently six parish-to-parish links Batlharos/Newbury Deanery, Huhudi/Moulsford, Lacey Green/Kuruman, Ritchie/Hitcham, St Cyprians/Christ Church (cathedrals), Taung/Summertown and Wolvercote - as well as two parish-to-programme links, Hope for the Living (Roodepan)/Thame and The Burning Bush Project/Dorchester Team.
Finding out more
- Take a look at short summaries from:
Interested in becoming a link parish?
Get in touch with the Link Chair, whose details are below. They'll be able to start the process by telling you more about what a link entails and finding out about your parish's hopes and expectations.
Contact
The Revd Canon Sue Booys
Kimberley & Kuruman Link Chair
Maranda St John Nicolle
PWM Project Officer
07493 377 580