Some places don’t let you go.Africa is one of them.
In 2016 I landed in Windhoek with a backpack and no safety net. Three years of red roads, two companies, countless encounters.
Since then I have carried a love for southern Africa and its people. And the sense that God is calling me back. This time to Cape Town. This time not for a business, but for his kingdom.
Others have gone before.
In 1908 the American John G. Lake arrived in Johannesburg with his family. He stayed five years. His story is not ours. But it left footprints in which we recognise our own path.
Arriving without a net.
Lake arrived with hardly any money. A stranger paid for their entry, and in Johannesburg a woman he had never met was waiting with a furnished house.
Windhoek 2016, one backpack, no plan B. Doors opened that I could not open myself.
Whoever is called is provided for.
Bridges over divides.
In Lake’s first meetings black and white people prayed together, in the middle of a divided land. After little more than a year they were separated again. The bridge did not hold.
I am a bridge builder: between Europe and Africa, between cultures, between church and business. We want bridges that hold.
The kingdom knows no skin colour.
Bigger than one life.
Lake left after five years. What began with him remained: the Apostolic Faith Mission counts over a million members today, and the movement shapes a large part of the Christians in southern Africa.
We build so that others can build on. In the end a lighthouse belongs to those who live there.
We plant. God gives the growth.
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.Matthew 6:10
That is the core. We don’t want to just preach his kingdom. We want to pull it down to this earth: into a street, into a yard, into the life of a child.
A child sees light. And starts to run.
Lighthouses that stay.
A lighthouse is not a programme that visits. It is a place that stays. A yard, a roof, an open door in a street where the children already live.
A place.
A fixed address in the township. Safe, open every week. Something a child can rely on.
People from there.
Led by a local church or team. They stay when we are not there. We serve them.
A light.
Food, homework, sport, play. And the Bible. We say openly why we do this. Nobody has to believe to be fed.
We dream of streets where …
- children hear that someone knows their name.
- young people find a workbench and a mentor.
- local churches are strengthened, not replaced.
- dignity grows where there was hopelessness.
- God’s love becomes visible in everyday life.
Great need. Great faith.
In Khayelitsha, Cape Town’s largest township, more than four in ten people are younger than 19. The children have energy, humour and sharp minds. What is missing are safe places and adults with time.
And here is what gets overlooked: this is not spiritually empty ground. The faith is already there. It needs places where a child can see it.
Three stages. Then it belongs to them.
This is how we imagine it. The details grow with the people on the ground.
Anchor.
Listen first. Find the church or team already serving there. Agree on roles and money, clearly and in writing.
Build.
Doors open. A fixed weekly rhythm. Volunteers are trained, young people find their workbench.
Hand over.
The local team leads alone. We step back. The first young leaders help light the next lighthouse.
Are you in?
DFF is still a vision. Which means: whoever joins now builds it from day one. Three ways to be part of it.
Get hands-on.
You can do something that moves kids in Cape Town forward? Bring it. For a few weeks or for longer.
I’m in →Make it happen.
You want something real to happen? Help us build the first lighthouse. Your name is there at the start of the story.
I’m in →Spread the word.
You know someone who belongs here? Share this page. Often one single contact is the biggest lever.
Share this page →
Not a saviour. A steward with a mission.
I built two companies in Windhoek and researched the local market for my master’s thesis. I am not a pastor. I build structures: partnerships, budgets, handovers.
My foundation is simple: Jesus Christ finished what counts at the cross. So I don’t have to save anything. I get to help build.
Build people. Build bridges. Build systems.
Help light the first one.
Write to me or call. I’m happy to tell you more, and together we’ll see which place on this road is yours.