St. Mary Magdalen, Sheet - Who is who:
Anderson Marsh, Ordinand (Minister in Training)

Anderson, from St Mary Magdalen has recently begun training for the ordained ministry at STETS in Salisbury. Peter Belton went to find out a bit more about him.

I met Anderson one evening, earlier in the summer, to chat about where he is and how he came to be there.
He is 32 years old, has lived in Sheet all his life, with his Mum, Margaret, brother Kelvin and sister Lorraine. He works as an Individual Membership Co-ordinator at the European Council of International Schools and is Assistant Office Manager for the ECIS and Council of International Schools, both of which operate out of joint offices in Lavant Street, Petersfield.

As a youngster he had a difficult time at the Meadow School in Bordon. Assemblies were revealing but God did not feature much; the headmaster used to ask questions and it always seemed to be Anderson who had the answers (in telling me this, the slight surprise expressed on his face was a real delight!). However, he joined the Cub Scouts and it was with them that he had his first taste of "church".

1986 was a difficult year. However we do know that God uses crises as one of His loud hailers. Anderson was 12 when God started to make Himself felt in his life. Two much loved relatives died, then the family dog and then his father died suddenly too. Amid all the pain and shock, Peter Ingrams (Sheet's vicar at the time) came to visit them, sat himself on the floor and started to care for them in a very deep way.

This made a big impression on Anderson, with the result that he and Margaret attended church in Sheet. They were both confirmed in 1990. Soon after, Anderson was asked to be a server at communion services and he accepted the position. He felt very affirmed in this work and valued by the congregation. It also gave him the opportunity to observe the congregation and, as he put it, "to recognise that some folk obviously had something I did not". Peter Ingrams suggested he tried an Alpha course. He was thrilled by it and on the Away Day received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. "Suddenly I HAD to pray and read the Bible. I was thrilled and humbled to have a relationship with the Living God", he says.

Anderson, at this time, found the "autopilot" of liturgy difficult to cope with at times, so he joined the Methodist Church. He sought answers to God's still continuing callings, through the Methodist Church but they felt he needed more pastoral experience before starting any ministry training. Slowly, Anderson discovered (to his surprise) that he actually missed the Anglican liturgy and he found his way back to Sheet. Since that time he says that he feels that services are "a form of prayer". The ministry "tingling" nudges from God continued.

When Chris Peel joined St. Mary's Sheet, Anderson worked closely with her and was able to see a glimpse of a Deacon's life and work, but he couldn't believe it for himself. After several years struggling, he decided to give in to God and had several talks with Rob Dewing. As a result, his name was put forward to the Diocesan Director of Ordinands, who, after an encouraging meeting, put him in touch with a Vocation Chaplain and he confirmed Anderson's vocation to the Diaconate.

At this time (2005) Anderson was gaining practical pastoral experience. He felt he didn't want a "safe" project, but wanted one where he would have to "trust God", rather than a human understanding or comfort zone. He was seconded to the Queen Alexandra Hospital Chaplaincy, where he enjoyed meeting different folk and people with different faiths. He was given a parish placement at St. Mary's Portsea, with St. Faiths and St. Wilfreds. Being strongly anglo-catholic, the churchmanship was very different to those found in Sheet. It was a long day for him but he was obviously delighted to be working with the spirituality group and helping to lead services (specially the "whacky" evensong, when they sang choruses from the 70s). He was involved with visiting, home communions and a bible study group. He found that quite a lot of people actually wanted to talk to him, which again built up and encouraged him. He found the church community working with the homeless and mentally ill, asylum seekers and the un-loved, young folk and the elderly. During this period Anderson began to feel that he would be drawn into inner city work.

Following his tired but happy (my words this time) placement, Anderson met the Director of Ordinands again and it was decided that he should attend a Bishop's Advisory Panel to be held at Ely in July last. “Just be yourself”, people said. He gave a paper on Spirituality in Older People. "I enjoyed it", he said, "in a scary kind of way". After two weeks the panel recommended to the Bishop that Anderson should be accepted for ministry training.

Between July and September there's been a lot of form filling and he began the first study modules. Then in September he started at STETS, in Salisbury, where he will undertake some six modules per year. For his study work, Anderson is supported by Rob Dewing and a local tutor. Anderson feels he is drawn to the permanent diaconate ministry. He would like an Anglo-Catholic position in an inner city, where people rely on the work of the church, on a daily basis, for their life and nurture.

He says his Mum is getting used to the idea of him being in ministry. A nephew says "My uncle, he works for God!" He's had to explain that the Bishop's Advisory Panel does not mean that he's training to be a bishop! He says he looks to God to guide him in all he does and he's certain He'll be there when there are difficult times. He has peace: "God's in control". For him faith means meeting the eye of God and not needing to look away.

Just for the record, Anderson likes Terry Pratchet's books, Discworld, DVDs, the cinema, walking, his computer and even the gym (occasionally!) So he is actually fairly normal ...

It has been a privilege to know Anderson a little, but most of all to watch him grow and see that he knows he's held in God's hand.

Article by Peter Belton, originally published in the Rock, February 2007