How to Be (Un) Successful Series

"Pete’s book is a combination of inspiring stories, wild faith and insightful challenge. It will stretch your views of prayer – both answered and unanswered – and of the deeply transformative power of love."

Pete Greig, Author and Founder of 24–7 Prayer

No Neutral Ground

Finding Jesus in a Cape Town Ghetto

My first book, No Neutral Ground, draws on my experiences from a decade working and living in Manenberg as well as my theological studies. It is a raw account of seeing the love and power of Jesus break into violent and addicted young lives in Manenberg, telling of the extreme experiences – the high highs and low lows – of living with gangsters and drug addicts for whom much of society has given up hope. It is an unlikely adventure from middle class London to the forgotten margins of Cape Town, combining a passion for revival with a heart for activism. Along the way it asks some deeply challenging questions around the nature of mission, the call of the church, the inclusivity of the kingdom of God, and the adventure of faith.

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Along with my wife Sarah and daughter Simi, I do life with young men coming out of gangsterism and drug addiction and help these young men find faith, freedom and wholeness. 

I'm on the board of 24-7 Prayer South Africa, and spend much of my time growing relationships and networks across racial and socio-economic divides, as well as speaking at churches and organisations both locally and internationally on matters of faith and social transformation.

I hold Masters degrees in Theology (Edinburgh) and Theology, Politics and Faith-based Organisations (Kings College London); I've written articles for The Guardian, The Telegraph and The Times. In my spare time I enjoy carpentry and playing football, with increasing slowness, for FC Manenberg.

About Me

Manenberg and

Tree of Life

It began with two friends walking and praying...

As they prayed, they asked God to send the labourers for the harvest in Manenberg – people started to arrive and rise up locally, and prayer on the streets became prayer with people, introducing young men and women caught in drugs and gangs to the love of Jesus.

We are a church family committed to a life of following Jesus together in Manenberg. We don’t primarily aim to offer solutions to Manenberg’s problems, we simply seek to be a sign that another reality is possible when love is put at the centre. Our expression of church comes from our understanding of the church spoken of in Acts 2. We believe that through playing our part in pursuit of this mission, we will have an impact on the community where we are living, and Manenberg will be revived.