A HAMPSHIRE woman will become a deacon at a ceremony in Portsmouth Cathedral.

Lizzie Davidson, 31, from Bishop's Waltham, is to be ordained after more than a decade of involvement with the Anglican Church.

The Bishop of Portsmouth will ordain 24 people as clergy in two ordination services at Portsmouth Cathedral this Saturday, June 29. 

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Archbishop Justin Welby celebrates the Eucharist in Portsmouth Cathedral in 2016 (Image: Diocese of Portsmouth)

There will be a bumper crop of 18 new deacons who will be ordained for the first time, at 11am. After the service, they’ll be able to wear clerical collars, call themselves ‘the Reverend’ and will start new roles as curates at parishes across Portsmouth diocese.

Lizzie gained experience of parish and secular youth work, worked as a church verger, and broadcast digital worship during Covid lockdowns. She now feels more equipped to join the ranks of our clergy for the first time.

“Ten years is a long time, but it was mostly working out if I was sure this was the right thing to do,” she said. “But I do think the life experience that I’ve gained from the past decade has been valuable.”

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Lizzie moved to Bishop’s Waltham when she was two, and her newly-arrived family became involved with St Peter’s Church after a churchgoing neighbour offered them a pot of jam.

Her mum became a Christian when Lizzie was four, and the children were baptised and went to Sunday School.

She helped plan church services as a teenager, and became immersed in the worship at Christian youth camps each summer. She envisaged studying English Language at university and becoming a speech and language therapist.

“Something inside of me was yelling that this wasn’t the right thing for me,” she said. “I then got two rejection letters, as I hadn’t got the right A-level grades for the courses I’d applied for.

"It was a confirmation, as I hadn’t really wanted to go. I also didn’t want to defer, as the tuition fees were going up and it would cost more.

“I remember on A-level results day, my brother asking me what I wanted to do with my life. By the time he’d made a bacon sandwich, I’d found a theology course. By midday I had a place at Canterbury Christ Church. My anxiety disappeared."

Lizzie worked as a verger of St Ann’s Church in HM Naval Base, working alongside the chaplaincy to organise services and facilitate pastoral work.

Six months later, the first Covid lockdown started, and she had to reinvent the job. It included broadcasting online services and even creating TikTok posts of the chaplain dancing.

Lizzie will become a curate at Warblington-with-Emsworth after her ordination, which will give her further training in parish ministry.

“Putting a dog collar on for the first time was pretty terrifying,” she said. 

For full details about ordinations this Saturday visit portsmouth.anglican.org/ordinations.