Once a soldier, then a firefighter - now Tim has found God and is training to be a priest

He used to throw himself out of a plane at 18,000ft as part of an Army parachute display team before he joined the fire service, routinely scaling ladders that can reach the ninth floor of a burning building.

But now he is reaching for an even higher calling: God.

The father-of-three from Sompting has gone through a gruelling two-year assessment process to start training as a priest.

“It’s quite tough,” Mr Bell said, weighing up how becoming a man of the cloth compares to the entry tests for the Army or fire service.

“There are nine criteria you have to meet and each of them is checked out in great detail.

“The process is similar but the Army and fire training is quite rapid whereas this happens over a longer time.

“It’s quite a lengthy process with lots of interviews, including one with a bishop about my history, background and beliefs.

"There’s certain stuff you have to know and knowledge you have to display but it’s all about your character.”

The 42-year-old first became interested in Christianity ten years ago when he was with West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service.

He became a firefighter in 2003 and for the first three years was based at Shoreham Fire Station before transferring to Worthing.

He said: “Having faith is a big help. I know some members of my team who have spoken to me individually about things and sought my help because of my faith.”

Mr Bell revealed that he has turned to God in the back of a fire engine while racing to a scene with the blue lights and sirens going.

He said: “Sometimes the bells drop, you get a print-out and you’re on your way. You get these signs on the radio and I would say a prayer if I knew it was serious.

“Car accidents are a big part of it – there are probably more of those now than fires.

“While you are doing it you all have a role to play so you don’t think about what’s going on.

“You just focus on it. It’s afterwards you talk about it with the lads over a cup of tea and process it.

“Through prayer you can pray about these things and hand them over to God.

“Sometimes you think, ‘why has this person lost their life,’ and some things you will never know the reason why. Having that faith is a way of handing it over to God.”

Faith or no faith, there is some consolation. He said: “I don’t know how many people I have saved by fitting smoke alarms".

Mr Bell’s previous career started out in a very different vein, about as far removed from saving lives as one can imagine.

He joined the Territorial Army (TA) at the age of 20 after quitting a job driving a fork lift truck in a factory.

His training for The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment brought out the bravado needed for battle.

Mr Bell said: “One thing I regret was having all the training but not seeing active service.

“It would be like doing all the fire service training and never seeing a fire.

“But having spoken to those who have seen active service, they don’t recommend it.

“I have lost contact with most of the lads – they would probably find me quite a shock now as I was a different person then.

“In the Army you are trained to fight and that goes against what’s in the Bible.”

In his five years with the TA, he worked his way up to Lance Corporal before joining a parachute detachment of the regular Army in 1996.

His role was to skydive at airshows all around the country to promote the Army.

Once he left the Army he worked as a skydive instructor in Kent before joining the fire service and then finding God.

He said: “My wife was going to church and I wasn’t interested to begin with.

“But curiosity got the better of me. I found it a warm and friendly place to go.”

He started attending Sompting Community Church before moving to St Stephen's Church in Worthing, which is Church of England.

He said he felt uncomfortable and confused when the calling came initially.

“When I was going through my discernment period, I was really questioning whether it was right.

“It was quite a scary thing to give up a job I loved and tell my family to move.

“The moment I accepted it, it was a huge weight lifted off of me.

“My wife had seen it in me for a long time so it wasn’t a shock for her.”

Mr Bell, with his wife Emma and his three girls, aged eight, ten and 13, left the family home in Elizabeth Place, Sompting, today to begin a new life in Bristol.

He said: “I think this job is going to be the most demanding because it affects my whole family.

“We are packing up our house and my wife has given up her work. And my kids are moving school, which makes it much bigger than anything I have done before – it’s my biggest challenge so far.

“It’s a calling from God that has taken me down this route. I wasn’t unhappy with my life – I was actually very content but God has led me down this path.

“It’s a vocation – it’s not a case of fancying a different job now. We are giving this up for Christ, really.”

In Bristol, Mr Bell will start his training as a Church of England priest, studying theology at Trinity College in the city for the next two years.

After this, he hopes to return to the Chichester Diocese, which could see him take up a post anywhere in Sussex. He will then curate for another three years before being fully ordained as a priest.

A bursary will keep his family going while he is in Bristol but, he admitted, it is “a massive pay-cut” – about half the money he was earning as a firefighter.

He said: “It’s not a lot of money at all but it’s enough to get by.

“It’s not a thing to do to get rich. If I was doing it for the money, I would be in it for the wrong reasons.”