MEET OUR PASTORAL TEAM
Trevor was appointed in 1995 as Lead Pastor of Norwegian Settlers Church. Together with his wife Helene and their three children, they have faithfully led God’s people, often at great personal sacrifice. Trevor is a visionary Leader with a passion to bring the gospel to all people from all walks of life. Both he and Helene have led the charge in reaching the lost and dealing with issues of social injustice. Realising the limitations of a church to deal with these issues effectively, he birthed the Genesis Trust, an outreach arm of the NSC, in 2002.
TREVOR & HELENE DOWNHAM
SENIOR PASTOR
JEFF & KAREN DE WINNAAR
OPERATIONS PASTOR
In April 2007 Jeff came on-board as a Discipleship Pastor. As the church grew and the logistical needs grew, Jeff was appointed as the Operations Pastor in 2016. His wife, Karen serves alongside him in the finance department and oversees the HR as well as the gardens and lawns of the church. Jeff has a background in IT and management and Karen is a senior bookkeeper. They have two sons and two grandchildren. They are both passionate about serving the Church through their ministries.
ERROL & AGGIE HARTLEY
COMMUNITY PASTOR
Errol was ordained on Easter Sunday 1971 as a pastor. Errol and Aggie have served the Lord faithfully wherever He planted them and have planted two churches in Brighton Beach and Kempton Park. In 2015 Errol and Aggie retired from the Wesleyan Church and joined NSC as Community Pastors. Errol and Aggie look after our congregation by doing regular hospital and home visits as well as arranging food parcels for the needy. Errol also leads the Men’s Bible Study, our mid-week evening service and services at Mbango Retirement Village. Aggie is very involved in the visitation at the Genesis Care Centre
MIKE & IRENE RUTTER
MINISTRY PASTOR
Mike & Irene are originally from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. After qualifying in Mechanical Engineering and his time in the army, Mike responded to the call to ministry. Together with Irene he spent 5 years in Salisbury at Hillside Baptist Church. They then moved to Margate where they had their fourth daughter, and after 7 years moved to Pretoria. Mike and Irene served at Waterkloof Baptist Church and retired after 26 years. In 2018, Mike accepted a call to NSC and now serves as a ministry pastor. Mike & Irene run GriefShare and Orientation courses. Mike also preaches occasionally and is in-charge of the Prayer Ministry. He is also the Chairman of the Missions Committee.
Chad and Shannon have just welcomed their first child, James, to the van Niekerk family on the 2nd December 2023. Chad has been leading our Youth Ministry since 2019 and was appointed as our Youth Pastor in 2021. Shannon, his wife, who used to run our Kids Church department, has recently joined forces with Chad to supplement him in overseeing the lighthouse youth ministries. Shannon will focus more on the administration and logistics as together they pastor our youth. By the grace of God, the youth ministry has grown exponentially, and we are greatly blessed by their hard work and dedication.
CHAD & SHANNON VAN NIEKERK
YOUTH PASTOR
MARK & SHIRENE SMITH
DISCIPLESHIP PASTOR
Mark was appointed in June 2022 as a Discipleship Pastor. His wife Shirene has her own business but serves alongside and supports Mark in his ministry. They have two girls who are both very involved in serving at NSC. Mark co-leads the exodus ministry as well as championing Cell groups and other discipleship strategies to equip Gods people for acts of service