The
Lonehill Methodist Church is a new chapter in
the age-old story of God gathering people into
a community that brings healing and transformation
through the incarnate presence of the resurrected
Jesus.
In 1999, the Bryanston Methodist
Church purchased a property along the Jukskei
River with a view to establishing a new congregation.
A worshipping nucleus was created by Gary and
Jacqui Rivas in 2004, and this group has now
grown to include 600 adults, 50 youth and 250
children in 2008.
Some five years ago a member
of Bryanston Methodist Church donated 23 acres
of prime land to the church. Located
on a busy arterial road in Glenferness, on the
border of Lonehill, it was recognized as God’s
will for a church to be planted there so as to
better serve the local community and minister
to the disadvantaged in the area.
After prayerful consideration,
Reverend Costa Stathakis, Senior Pastor of BMC,
visited Gary and Jacqui Rivas who at that time
were pasturing a church in East London, to request
they explore the possibility of planting a new
church in the Lonehill area. In accepting
this invitation, this husband and wife team re-located
to Gauteng where, after four years of shaping,
training and guidance, they left BMC to found
the fledgling Lonehill Methodist Church (LMC).
Yet to build and lacking their
own premises, church meetings were held in the
Lonehill Crawford Primary School for over a year. The
inaugural meeting, attended by five people, was
held on 11 January 2004, the launch being held
on 4 April. Exceptional growth to an average
of 260 congregants worshipping together on Sunday
mornings resulted in the decision to move LMC
Sunday morning services to Lonehill Crawford
College.
Membership continued to increase
and with it the need for more parking spaces
resulting in LMC initiating two morning services
(07h45 and 09h30). A subsequent evening
service (18h30) which commenced in the
Church’s Lonehill Office Park premises
also grew in numbers requiring they be held in
larger premises; the first evening service was
held at the Indaba Hotel in September. Currently,
attendance at the three Sunday services exceeds
an average of 500 congregants.
Since inception, growth has
resulted in all aspects of LMC’s ministry. The
exceptional expansion of LMC in temporary premises
is considered testimony to God’s purpose
to initiate a new church in this area. To
God be the glory for the continuing success of
LMC in the knowledge that His will will prevail. | 
