Peter is married to Jill and they recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.
They have three children all of whom are married and who in turn have three children apiece.
Jill is a qualified Social Worker and works one week in every month at an NGO. based in Underberg doing staff development as well as Monitoring and Evaluation.
Peter runs a business which specialises in the manufacture of computer-controlled machines. He holds degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Theology.
They have been active members of Kloof Methodist Church for many years.
Peters include playing the guitar and singing, reading as well as writing poetry, short stories and plays.
He also has a blogsite www.artisansoftheword.blogspot.co.za to which from time to time he uploads articles with a theological flavour.
Introduction
A comparison of the church in the West and the church in China shows that there is major growth of the church in China while facing major persecution. On the other hand, the church in the west is ‘soft’ and not growing at nearly the same rate.
Looking at new beginnings in the bible, we find many scriptures that speak of new spiritual growth, e.g. Psalm 40:1-3 – the emphasis here being on waiting patiently.
In Lamentations 3 Jeremiah speaks of the importance of earnestly seeking God and waiting on Him.
Then in Isaiah 42:1-7 and Jeremiah 33:31 there is prophecy of a new dispensation, a new covenant.
Ezekiel speaks of the new covenant being written on our heart – Ezekiel 36:26
What does this mean for us in the New Year? We live in the time of the new covenant and are reminded of this each time we share in communion, we are a new creation –
2 Corinthians 5:17
How do we respond to this? Jesus taught in Matthew 9:14-17, that people do not pour new wine into old wineskins because they will burst. We pour new wine into new wineskins. Another scripture that speaks of this is 1 Corinthians 5:7-8
The challenge for us this New Year is, “What kind of wineskins are we? Are we old wineskins trying to put new wine into them or are we going to be new wineskins ready to receive new wine?”
Finally, a challenge from Hebrews 10:19-25 to encourage each other and spur one another on in the coming year.
19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Ernie Nightingale married Rosa in 1969. He was the principal of Ethelbert Children’s Home until April 2000.
In July 2000, Deacon Ernie Nightingale was appointed to the Hillcrest Methodist Church staff and was given part-time pastoral oversight of the Waterfall congregation. In 2001, when the Waterfall congregation was sufficiently established to attain “Society” status, Ernie was appointed pastor of Waterfall Methodist Church where he remained until retirement in 2013. He was appointed as locum minister at Kloof Methodist Church for 2014 and 2015. He currently serves on the Executive Committee of Kloof Methodist Church and on the Board of Management Ethelbert Child and Youth Care Centre as mentor and coach to the director and staff.
Ernie and Rosa have two sons. Their eldest son, Denzil is married to Dianne and has two beautiful daughters Holly (14) and Hope (11). They live in Durban. The younger son, Linton lives in Madrid, Spain where he teaches at the Jewish School.
In their years at Ethelbert, Ernie and Rosa were directly and indirectly responsible for raising over 800 children some of whom remain in contact with them. They also have a foster family and are “grandparents’ to their 2 adult children and “great grandparents” to 2 pre-schoolers.
Alan grew up and went to school in Westville. He studied horticulture at the Durban Technicon and in the USA. He is married to Lisa and has two grown up children, Emma and Luke. They have two dogs and a cat – no grandchildren.
Alan work in horticultural sector for 17 years befor going into full-time ministry where he has been for the past 21 years. Alan came to Waterfall Methodist Church in December 2013 on the retirement of Ernie Nightingale. His passion is to see God at work building His Kingdom
He enjoys sport, the outdoors, hiking, tennis, golf and wildlife.
Throughout the history of the church, men have been used by God to play an important part in God’s sovereign eternal plan for His people. Throughout the history of His people, God has been pictured as seeking out and finding men to fulfil the roles He has designed for them.
Today’s churches face enormous challenges. These will only be overcome if they rise to the standards that God requires of them, and they can only achieve these standards if they have men who are loving leaders, effective teachers, and godly examples.
The Men under Construction Men’s Ministry offers the men of our congregation a platform where they can join with other men in fellowship and address the issues and challenges they face daily as Godly men. Contact Rev Alan Dives for more information. All are welcome.
“God has invited us into the family of God, into a covenant – a lifelong commitment – with Christ.
To accept this invitation is to clai
Some of the things God calls us to do are easy and some are hard, sometimes we will enjoy great benefit, and sometimes endure great sacrifice. Sometimes following Christ gains us respect and honour and sometimes it leads to rejection and criticism.
Whatever life may hold though, we have learned that it is best faced with our hands firmly clasped in that of Jesus, and with our hearts filled with God’s strength and courage. So, let’s renew our commitment to God and to God’s ways and let’s trust in God’s firm grasp of us, not in our weak grasp of God.”
A few of our core values at Waterfall Methodist Church are to be relational and engaged in community, one of the ways we make those core values come to life is by eating together. There’s something special about sitting across the table from someone and talking about life and God. We have found that this is a growth time at church. The food is good although it’s just egg and bacon rolls and coffee or tea (but they are the best egg and bacon rolls in Waterfall), but more importantly, the relationships that are built during this time serve as a community builder.
Join us at our next breakfast – you are most welcome!
The Ministry Leader at Waterfall Methodist Church is called to be prayerful, a servant leader, a team player and a gracious encourager. They have a dual responsibility, -not only to co-ordinate, oversee and encourage the various activities within the scope of their particular portfolio but also to encourage the members to grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ through learning, sharing, and serving, providing discipleship and leadership development.
The Leaders’ Dedication Service on 21st January gives the opportunity for the congregation to commit to prayerful support of our ministry leaders and for the leaders to commit themselves to prayerful, faithful service in their ministry.
Millions of people have tried Alpha, all around the world, and it’s been translated into 112 different languages.
Developed as a short course at HTB in London, in 1990 Nicky Gumbel took over running Alpha and found that many people outside of the church wanted to explore the Christian faith. Alpha now runs in every part of the global church,
What is Alpha?
Alpha is a series of sessions exploring the Christian faith. Each talk looks at a different question around faith and is designed to create conversation. Alpha is run all around the globe, it’s free, and everyone’s welcome.
We will be holding our next Alpha Course at Waterfall Gardens, Yellowwo0d Drive Waterfall starting in January.
If you would like to come along and find out what its about join us for afternoon tea on 17th January at 14h30 – no obligation and no strings…just the chance to find the answers to some of life’s tough questions.
For more information contact Allen Schnell on or got to https://alpha.org/about
While on the leadership and a lay preacher at Hillcrest Methodist Church, Allen felt a calling into full-time ministry. This led to an invitation to become a lay pastor at the Empangeni Methodist Church under Arthur Loans.
Allen, together with his wife Joan, moved to Empangeni with their younger son, Graeme, leaving their two older children, Craig and Keri, in Hillcrest, to continue their tertiary education.
During his time in Empangeni, Allen candidated for the ordained ministry through the non-itinerant route, and was ordained in 2004. By that time, Craig and Keri had joined them in Empangeni and it was a very special time of being involved together as a family in the same church.
At the end of 2009, after nearly 15 years at Empangeni (and by then blessed with 7 grandchildren!) Allen and Joan retired to Waterfall, and at present they assist at Waterfall Methodist Church with preaching and leading Sunday Worship and other worship events during the church year.
They enjoy having Graeme and his wife, Alison, and their three lovely daughters nearby.