"Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; but I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell." -CT Studd

What is Fusion?

“Facilitating restorative outreach to high-risk youth through the local church.” 

Fusion is a project that developed under the direction of The Warehouse Trust. The Warehouse Trust is a non-profit organization established by the Anglican Parish of St. John's with the mission to ‘serve the church in its response to poverty and injustice.' Beginning in January of 2004 Fusion entered the township of Manenberg. The first four years of the project have focused on establishing good relationships with individuals, churches and organizations in Manenberg. Fusion has reached a point where it is time to act.

The Problem

Gang life is dominant in the Cape Flats townships. Many young boys, anywhere from 10-24, are lured into gangs every day. Unemployment rates, poor education, and broken families, have left these young boys searching for order and a place of belonging. Many of these youth find order and belonging in the gangs, setting in motion a life of crime and violence. In exchange for order, money, clothes, food, drugs, and father-like figures, the youth give their allegiance to the gangs. The boys most vulnerable to gang life are often unemployed, poorly educated, already involved in criminal and violent activities, or already labeled by the community as a likely candidate for gang life. We'll call these candidates' high-risk youth. It is estimated that there are 120 000 gang members in and around Cape Town, of which the majority are young (from about 11 years old) and male.

The Vision

Isaiah 61

1 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
Because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
And recovery of sight for the blind,
To release the oppressed,
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." 

4 "They will rebuild the ancient ruins
And restore the places long devastated;
They will renew the ruined cities
That have been devastated for generations." 

Luke 4:18-19 shows us that restoration is the mission of Jesus. In the Greek, the word used for restoration is ‘Sozo’, which means; deliverance, restoration, protection, healing, making whole. In Matthew 28, Jesus calls us to continue in this ministry.

Matthew 28

20 “Go and do what I taught you to do and teach others to do the same.”

Fusion Process

Fusion Process

A strategy, specifically targeting high-risk youth, achieved through local church mobilisation. We focus on local church mobilisation as we believe in what the local church has to offer and that they are best placed in communities to make a difference.  

The church will be mobilised and equipped to respond to high-risk youth in the following four ways:

1. Prayer: this is fundamental and foundational to all that we do. This is also not foreign to church communities.
2. Gateways: Identify the places where high-risk youth can be found and engaged with and to engage with them in line with the principles of walking amongst, talking to, befriending and reconciling with high-risk youth.
3. Establish a Refuge Community:  An intentional, spiritual community that is based around prayer and work, being a refuge for HRY in the early stages of their journey of restoration to God, self, others and creation. restorative programmes
4. Reconciliation – high-risk youth fully reconciled to others through interaction. We see this is completely and fully possible only through Christ Jesus, 2 Corinthians 5:17-21:

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

How can the Church be Involved?

·       Prayer

·       Outreach through Gateways; Fusion Action Team (FACT)

·       Adult member of refuge community

·       Support ministries of the Refuge Community, such as family support, drug counselling & restorative justice

·       Willingness to change

The Future of Fusion

In five years time, Fusion desires to see active street-based outreach teams, the implementation of the restoration programs within the local churches, a Fusion Action Team in place and the intentional community's active building of the Refuge Community. By this time, Fusion will have begun its phasing-out process, leaving this project fully in the hands of the Christian community of Manenberg.

Walking in Mannenberg