About Me — Justin Marsh
The childhood decision that shaped the rest of my life
It was a Sunday in May, somewhen in the mid-nineties. I was perhaps 7. My dad, brother and I were sat in the car outside our house, and I was about to make the most important decision of my life.
I was born into a Christian family. Those are the words that many young Christians in the Western world echo when they recount their testimony. They will then recount how they didn’t really believe in God until a teenager, then decided to follow Jesus for themselves. At least that’s the pattern I’ve heard again and again.
My testimony is slightly different. I decided to follow Jesus at a young age. So young, in fact, that the details of it are blurry.
It sits in my memory like aging, sun-bleached photographs. Some of the details may be mixed with what I’ve seen in photo albums: the clothes in primary colours, the beards and big glasses, the cheeky grins of two blond brothers, the row of narrow Victorian houses we lived on, built uniform in redbrick. It’s hard to separate the images now.
But I know it happened. The event was real, even if my recollection of it is somewhat dreamlike. And I know this event set the course of my life.
So it was, that in a car, on the way back from church sometime in May, I decided to follow Jesus. My dad had been sharing his testimony on the journey from church. By the time we got home, I resolved that I would obey God for the rest of my life.
If you were to ask, “Who is Justin Marsh?” then this would probably be the most important part of the answer. Justin Marsh is the man who decided he would obey and serve God for the rest of his life.
This decision has been the rock of stability during difficult times. It has been the principle criterion for other decisions in my life: does it match with that choice I made all those years ago?
I’ve been trying to follow that choice ever since. Sometimes I got it right. Sometimes I got it wrong. Sometimes I forget the decision that I made.
But, as you will read, this decision shaped the years to come.
Your teenage years are usually the ones where your faith takes a hammering. For me, those were the years when it was strengthened.
My school was a typical comprehensive school. There were good things. There were some strange things. There were some downright questionable things.
The school did have a Christian Union, but it seemed to whither and end before I arrived. At 12 years old, I decided this was not right. The idea that there was nowhere that Christians could worship in the school seemed wrong. It didn’t seem in line with the decision I made in the car on that Sunday. Consequently, I knew I had to resurrect the Christian Union.
I had no idea what I was doing. But every Tuesday evening, I would decide on a topic we would meet about. Then I would get my dad’s red leather-bound concordance from the study bookcase, and start searching for verses on that theme.
The Christian Union did not become a union of Christians. I may have been one of the few Christians who joined. Instead, there were the people who fell outside of the socially acceptable parameters of secondary school rules. There were the students who were often bullied or lonely at lunchtime. There was at least one, if not two, that were questioning their sexual identity.
We were the weirdoes, the geeks and the lonely: straight, gay, believer or not. But every Wednesday lunchtime, we would meet. We would read verses from the Bible. We would talk about Jesus.
I often wondered why they came. But there was something about that group that meant people felt safe and welcome.
For the next six years, or so, I was obedient in running the Christian Union (almost) every Wednesday. So, during my teenage years, I was learning what the decision meant in reality.
When I was about 25, I decided that God was calling me to new things. I had been working for a church as a youth worker for a number of years after university. It felt like the right time to do something different.
I enrolled in a teacher training course at my local university. I was fortunate, as the education department was highly regarded.
It was the desire to obey and serve God that drove me to become a teacher. I genuinely believed it was God’s desire for me. So I did it.
And if I had done it for another reason, I don’t think I would have finished the course.
My second school placement did not work. I had loved the first placement. But, for many reasons, the culture of the second school did not suit me. It is okay for schools to have different cultures. But when you are having to work there and train there, it can get really messy. And messy it got.
At one point, my mentor told me, “I don’t think you are cut out to be a teacher.”
For a lot of people, that can be devastating to hear. It was really hard and I was upset.
But I knew she was wrong.
I remember thinking, “If God thinks I should become a teacher, I’m going to take His word on it, not yours.”
So, I finished my teacher training. I did quite well. I got a job out of it.
Looking back at the story of my life, it probably does not seem surprising that I became a missionary. The desire to obey, to see God worshipped where He isn’t, the resolute confidence in His plan for my life were all present from a young age.
But it was a big surprise to me. It was a bigger surprise for my family.
The how of becoming a missionary was far more simple. I asked God if I should go. And He told me I should.
About Me Summary
Justin Marsh is not my real name.
I was born in the south of England, UK. My parents and my brother are all Christians.
My first degree was in English Literature, then I became a secondary school teacher for 6 years.
In 2012 God called me to Asia. I came for one year in 2016. I fell in love, so I moved back to Asia in 2018. This is when I met my wife. We got married online during COVID-19. We continue to live here. I still desire to serve and obey God for the rest of my life.
You can find more about how I became a missionary in these two posts:
I enjoy writing about the humorous side of living abroad. It is a type of therapy
Justin Marsh is a missionary that has served in Asia for over six years. He is the country leader of a team of missionaries and has just completed an MA that looks at missional practice. Whilst his team works within a range of contexts across the country, Justin’s focus is the Muslim minority groups. He is the owner of the publication THE CO-MISSION.
