The Community Outreach Program Trust (COPT) is a South African non-profit organisation committed to transforming lives by setting up Good News and Bible Education Centres in communities that need them most. From these Centres, we run hands-on, people-centred programmes that support individuals from early childhood through to old age.
Our work is grounded in four key pillars: Education, Health, Family, and Spiritual Development. For over 20 years, we’ve walked alongside local communities – listening, learning, and growing together.
At COPT, we believe that real change begins with meaningful relationships. Over time, strangers become neighbours, and communities become family. And in that shared journey of faith and care, we discover a powerful truth – when a life is changed, all of us are changed, because changing lives is life-changing.
About
The journey of COPTrust began 20 years ago with a challenge, to rethink how we shared our faith in a changing South Africa. What followed was not a campaign of preaching, but a movement of transformation, built on the belief that when we introduce someone to their Father in heaven, everything changes.
From the early days, we realised that to truly share the Good News, we needed to reflect the compassion of Christ, meeting people where they were – physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Our focus shifted from formal religious events to real relationships rooted in care, presence, and understanding. Through practical expressions of love, feeding a child, walking beside the elderly, offering a word of encouragement or a listening ear, we created space for conversations about faith, hope, and the God who sees them.
At the heart of our work has always been one purpose – to introduce people to the love of God, not through speeches, but through consistent, humble acts of kindness that invite questions and open hearts. We learned to touch to teach and teach to touch. Over time, those we served began to seek, not just help for today, but hope for tomorrow. Many came to know their Creator, not as a distant concept, but as a Father invested in their lives.
Lives were changed, not just those of the communities we serve, but our own. Because in introducing others to the Father, we too came closer to Him. This is why our motto remains true – Changing lives is life-changing.