'I was at a cliff ready to throw my life away when God saved me' - Longford minister

Longford's newly appointed Methodist Minister dives deep into his relationship with God who he says saved him at one of the darkest points in his life.

Reverend Nigel Gill became Longford's Methodist Minister in July of 2025 when he was already appointed in Birr, Co Offaly, his home town, as well as Athlone and Tullamore.

A man of many creative talents, Rev. Nigel wrote a book called 'Welcome to An Cupan Tae' and has his own weekly radio show on Midlands 103.

He thanks God for all of his great blessings in his life including his loving wife Vicky and their five children who are a beacon of light in his life.

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In an exclusive interview, Rev. Nigel dives deep into his life and explains how he went from being a tyre centre manager for over 22 years to now serving four counties as a Methodist Minister.

"I was working as a floor manager in a tyre shop for 16 and a half years, it was a wonderful time actually.

"I would say it very much helped me, shaping me for the ministry that I'm involved in now because I was dealing with people and conversing with people on a daily basis. My life has always revolved around people as a result of being in the tyre industry."

"I wouldn't consider myself to be a religious person, and by that I mean the biblical version of religion is to look after the widows, look after the orphans and keep oneself pure in the world. 

"I have a relationship with God because of what Jesus Christ has done for us and because he has redeemed me and saved me and brought me into his kingdom as His child."

Nigel recalled a very dark time in his life when he was in his early 20s where God saved him from jumping off the edge of a cliff.

He said that he believed at one point, despite being blessed with a good childhood and education, he had no purpose or meaning in life.

"So I came to a place where I was standing at the edge of a cliff, thirty off years ago, ready to throw my life away.

"It was a Sunday morning, I was on a Christian retreat, believe it or not, and I left the retreat early and it was a beautiful day.

"The sea was beautifully calm and the sun hadn't even risen and I was standing at the edge of a cliff and the next thing a voice behind me spoke and said 'step back' and I turned around and there was nobody there."

Nigel said that the voice said again to him; 'Nigel step back, I want to use you'.

"I was so arrogant in myself in that I said 'Lord if this is you speaking, I give you twelve months to use me or I'll be back here.'"

Nigel said what followed were "the most horrendous months" of his life because, as he recites a verse from the Bible, "The Lord disciplines the son that He loves."

"The Lord disciplined me quite harshly until I came to the realisation that life is only because of His grace, mercy and love."

Nigel said the whole experience of becoming a minister in 2019 has been "an absolutely amazing time. This was a journey that the Lord took me on, which brought me into ministry."

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Nigel recalled a moment in theological college of a scripture that he read which said: "Look to the nations and watch, be utterly amazed, for I'm going to do something in your day that had I told you, you would not have believed it."

Nigel said that this was true because if someone had come to him while he was working in Heffernan's Tyres in Kildare and told him he was going to be a Minister, "I would have thought that you were off your heads, to be quite honest. But it has just been amazing.

"I would encourage anybody to go and step into that sort of adventure, to be honest," Nigel said.

Nigel has found the welcome in Longford as a minster very open and warm.

"Obviously, when you're a new minister, even within the congregation itself, there's a small bit of time where we have to get to know one another and understand what each other's about. But I have found that the congregation in Longford are open, they're warm, enthusiastic and really up for embracing a spiritual future."

Nigel says he also would never have believed he would be hosting his own weekly radio show but he has been doing that since 2019.

The show, called 'Heartlands,' is on every Sunday morning at 8am on Midlands 103. Nigel spends the hour talking to different people who send him reflections and discuss their relationships with God, as well playing various types of music.

"We focus on different things from week to week, such as the psalm or a portion of a scripture and explore what those things mean. It's a very wide, varied show from week to week."

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The opportunity came to Nigel after he replaced Reverend William Hayes who was hosting the show before him.

"He and Father Shane Crombie had been doing the show and both of them had come to a point where Father Shane got moved and Reverend William decided that he had been doing it for quite a long time and that he was finished, so they had asked me."

Nigel's view on the Church is that a church is "not supposed to be a situation where you've got one person at the front and an audience. It's actually supposed to be where everybody together is actually moving forward and involved in the life and the ministry of the church. 

"And I would say that in regard to Burr, Athlone, Tullamore and Longford, in all four churches, the congregations have really embraced that and stepped into that biblical mandate...and are all doing their best and discovering more and more what it is that the Lord wants them to do. My job is to assist them and equip them in that."

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He said that there is a scarcity of Ministers but "that doesn't mean that the church, to me, is in decline. There's many people who are expressing their faith in independent churches or non-traditional churches, he says.

Nigel said that the reason he believes people should have a relationship first and foremost with God is "because God is the one who brings peace, gives hope and is the reason for living.

"You can have the absolute most fantastic adventure and not travel outside 5 or 10 miles of your own home. I'm still living within 11 miles of my birthplace and yes, with God, I've had such a fantastic adventure.

"I've seen the Lord do absolutely amazing things in my life and in other people's lives. There's videos on Facebook of a lot of people whose lives were brought back by God from the edge of a cliff, from suicide.

"And I'm one of those people. So even though I had a very strong faith all of my life, I still ended up that, you know, I got myself into a very dark place.

"And that's the only reason I'm alive today, is Jesus Christ. Jesus is the one who intervened in my life and Jesus is the one who's blessed me with a wonderful wife, who's blessed me with the children that are in my home."