As we seek to partner God in His kingdom-building activities in Cape Town and the nations of the world, let’s make sure that we are available to God to minister into some of the greatest areas of need in our city – unemployment, HIV/Aids, substance abuse, poverty – with our hearts towards heaven and our hands towards humanity.

Our vision is a city in which individuals and communities experience spiritual, personal, social and economic well-being through the demonstration of Christ’s love.

In response to God’s grace, the Friends First Foundation (FFF) -name soon to be changed to the Common Ground Foundation - aims to provide volunteer and financial support to organisations that serve the poor and marginalised. In the story of the Good Samaritan we read how he assisted a man who had been beaten and stripped of his clothes – left for dead at the side of the road. The Samaritan takes the man to an inn where he provides money to the inn-keeper to take care of him.

In the same way, the FFF team seeks to support inn-keepers – men and woman in our city who are vocationally called to address some of the greatest social ills prevalent in Cape Town.

The role of the FFF team is to help people help people. We do this through:

• Establishing relationships with and supporting effective faith-based social impact programmes and organisations in our city – our inn-keepers.
• Mobilising and developing leaders and volunteers who feel called to serve into our inn-keepers’ specific areas of need.
• In addition to supporting inn-keepers, we also support social entrepreneurs* by enabling potentially high impact ideas to transpire into cutting edge programmes, and ultimately new organisations.


Our partnering with inn-keepers is underpinned by the following beliefs:

• Gospel-centered living means that every follower of Christ is called to demonstrate compassion and mercy to the poor and disadvantaged. Theologically the gospel is not just about ensuring that souls go to heaven. If this were the case then helping the poor is an add-on, something you get to if you have time and if that’s your primary gifting. We believe that the purpose of salvation is to renew this creation – not just to take us out of the material world forever, but also to restore the world we live in. Loving the poor and marginalised is, therefore, intrinsic to what it means to be a Christian. As we
grow in our revelation of how Jesus identified with the poor and victims of injustice, it will turn us outward. To follow Jesus is to dispense the same kind of justice and mercy that he did.

• Loving the poor and disadvantaged involves both acts of service and proclamation of God’s truth. This is what distinguishes Christ-centered service from any other secular work. We demonstrate the love of Christ through acts of mercy and kindness, combined with proclaiming his life-giving truth and in doing so we hope to see more of God’s reign – more of His kingdom come.

• We are motivated to love the poor and disadvantaged because of Christ’s love and grace for us. There is nothing more or less that we can do to earn God’s favour. It is but by the grace of God that we are in relationship with Him. We respond to the poor because we are moved by God’s love and grace for us.

• In the process of service, both the initiator of mercy and the recipient are transformed through the process. All of us suffer from different types of poverty. In building relationships with more disadvantaged individuals than ourselves we, too, grow in Christlikeness.


We trust that as you read this guide you catch some of Gods heart for the poor and disadvantaged in our midst. Open your heart to God and allow him to prompt you into the great adventure of building his kingdom through partnering with the poor.