This blog is dedicated to the ministry news of the Capricorn Project, the work being done in the township of Capricorn, Cape Town South Africa. This project is a merger of the work of several different full-time missionaries to the community and many part time volunteers. Clinton Losper, who has provided longtime pastoral care to the community through the ministry of Living Hope, Capricorn Church, and his own personal ministry has been the facilitator of this work. YWAM missionaries Joseph and Renee Horevay who came here in August 2009 to plant churches in the community got the vision to stay long-term and pray for 105 churches to begin the community transformation. Lydia Losper also came with the YWAM team and is now married to Clinton and dedicated full time to the ministry especially with the youth and young adults. Many YWAM students have been helping and volunteering with them in the community, as well as another missions group, the Foxfire team who are from African enterprises.

THE DEMOGRAPHICS

Capricorn (including Overcome Heights) is a township that has evolved over the last two decades from an informal settlement to a bustling community with paved streets, potable water, sanitation, electricity and basic municipal services. The community consists of 20,000 persons primarily Afrikaans speaking coloreds along with a mix of other South African tribal groups and a variety of immigrants from Malawi, Zimbabwe, Cameroon and the Congo. English is nearly universally spoken as a second language. HIV/AIDS infection rate is at 37%, tuberculosis tracks a similar percentage. Unemployment is at 85%. Drug abuse abounds, especially tik (meth-amphetamine) as does alcoholism. Poverty characterizes the community. Many children go to bed hungry. The streets are litter-filled. Most housing is shacks.
SPIRITUAL LIFE
Eight evangelical Christian churches with attendance between 50 and 150 persons are the sole gospel witness to the thousands in Capricorn . The total church attending population is estimated at 600 persons, (3% of the population) including those that attend away from the community. The evangelical faith is somewhat familiar to the population. One church, planted by two white suburban baptist churches in 2008 operates at the entrance of Capricorn with a suburban church model and is led by a student/seminarian intern. It is overseen by a steering committee from the sponsoring churches. It appears to draw approximately 80 people from the community. At the opposite end of Capricorn is the largest, an Assembly of God. It appears to draw 150 people and operates a breakfast program for 250 school children. The Capricorn project operates five adult Bible studies with an attendance of 40 persons. There is a Malawian church of 100 that caters to that refugee community. The Galilean Gospel Mission has 50 persons. The Church of the Nazarene in Overcome Heights has 100 in attendance. The Vrygond (Free Ground) Evangelical Church has 150 persons. These churches seem to have little interaction. Near Capricorn is a sizable and vital church called Bay Community Church. It is a white suburban congregation that does have a small cell group in Capricorn. It does not have a comprehensive outreach program into that community, nor do many Capricorn residents attend. There is a mosque in Capricorn as well.

HOW THE PROJECT CAME TOGETHER
Clinton Losper, age 38 is a brother who has worked in Capricorn with a NGO for four years. He had in July 2009 transitioned from leadership in one of the local churches and was desiring to minister pastorally and evangelistically to Capricorn. He is widely known and respected in the township. Clinton is a providential key to this community as he has no agenda other then seeing the Kingdom of God manifest in Capricorn. As Clinton says: “he works for the Kingdom of God.” In August Clinton met with Joseph, Renee, Lydia and others from a YWAM outreach team and they began planting the house church meetings.
It began with four bible studies having an attendance of 10 to 20 persons per meeting, not counting the YWAM outreach members. There initially have been prayers for salvation at the earliest meetings. Each meeting offers prayer for healing and personal needs. Participation is encouraged for answering study questions, reading the study text, prayer, testimonies and sharing spiritual insights including prophecies. Simple meals are commonly shared with leftovers sent home with the unemployed for their children. The Lord’s Supper (communion, eucharist) has been celebrated and water baptism by immersion offered. A vision for reaching Capricorn by planting Bible studies is actively communicated in the four studies. It is encouraging to see the community members getting actively involved, for example two older women who had been attending, Awne & Margaret had an all-night prayer-intercession meeting for God to reach all of Capricorn! The faith found in this community surpasses that of many more “well off” places.

AS THE MINISTRY EXPANDS
Clinton and Lydia are currently running four home church groups a week and praying for God’s provision for meals for those groups. So far lunch is always served to those attending. As more workers come in, more home groups will be able to begin.
There are now four different teen discipleship groups that meet weekly, with more youths waiting for volunteers and venues to hold more groups. The youth are hungry for God, His love, and change in their communities. The vision of these groups is to not only teach them the word of God, but also provide mentorship and to walk with these youth in their everyday lives.
A young adult Bible Study was started Wednesday nights by YWAMer Jason Sutliff, a School of Biblical Studies student at the base in Muizenberg. This is mostly for non-believers who want to know more about following God and also to encourage those who are already Christ-followers.
Capricorn residents Linda and Doudenai have volunteered a piece of property for the ministry, so every Monday night there is a prayer vigil on their property as we wait for funds and a vision to use the land. Anyone is welcome to come and pray for the community on actual community grounds, as we know there is power in prayer to push back the enemy from inside.
Several YWAMer’s have started a photography club for kids on Saturday mornings. They have supplied the kids with cameras through donors and are teaching them the basics of photography. About ten of Capricorn’s kids look forward to this class every week.
Several weekends as there are funds and volunteers, field-trips are run for the youth such as trips to the beach, “The Castle” in Cape Town, or to the homes of the mission workers for meals and a movie.
Clinton is planning to run a two-week kids summer camp for the youth in December. He plans to take about 30 youth to Plettenberg Bay where they will experience life outside of Capricorn and also get the chance to minister to others. There will be many fun activities planned, as staffed by volunteers. The kids will have the chance to share their spiritual gifts of music, spiritual dance, prayer and evangelism with the local community.
Clinton and Lydia’s desire is to serve the community of Capricorn as a pastoral couple, and are already available and using their time to serve families where needed. This involves counseling in crisis situations, home visits, going with families to assist in taking care of legal business, providing food when possible, etc.

FUTURE VISIONS
Rene and Joseph Horevay will return to continue the work in January, and their vision is for church plant. As Joseph asked the Lord to plant 100 home bible studies/simple churches, he sensed the Lord say “105,” and that is now his vision. If 105 of these groups are planted each with and adult attendance of ten, that amounts to 5% of Capricorn’s population or 1,050 adults. When one adds to that the sphere of influence each adult has including children and grandchildren the level of influence grows to 10-15% or a total of 2,000-3,000 persons.
Clinton and Lydia have a vision of total community transformation, to see those in South Africa who are serving the Lord rise up to help meet the needs here in their own backyard. Their hearts are especially toward the youth but also to see wholeness brought to families through the transformation of Jesus Christ. They are open to bringing in volunteers from all denominations and missions organizations. They want to see the church unified and working together to fight back the enemy who has stolen so much ground in Capricorn. They would like to start a youth center there and are currently looking and praying for a building in Capricorn. The youth would come there for Christ-centered way out of the streets, to be tutored, mentored, disci-pled and just to have fun. They would like to see many more church locals involved in the ministry. They have a vision for a scholarship fund for the faithful kids, more camps and a non-denominational church, among many other things.
IMMEDIATE NEEDS
Clinton and Lydia are currently seeking financial support to be able to continue this ministry. Many more long term workers and recruiters are needed. There is a current need for funding and staff for the kid’s summer camp. There is also a current need for more volunteers to disciple young women and venues for them to meet in. There is always a need of food among many other things for the people of Capricorn. As more volunteers and funds come in, of course much more can be done. There is a need for networking to get the word out about what is being done in Capricorn. Anyone interested or think your church or other may be interested, please contact us!