Jonny: Sue, tell us about you, your church and how you ended up on Stepping Up?

Sue: I’m Sue, Community Minister and Church Warden at St Hilda’s. It was our previous vicar, Matt Strand who saw something in me that at the time I couldn’t, he recommended me to Stepping Up

Jonny: So you finished Stepping Up, what did you feel God was saying as you finished and became a Community Minister?

Sue: Even before finishing my Stepping Up journey I knew I wanted to do something for our young people in the community. The more I prayed for this, the more passionate I became and to try and give them a safe place to come and just be them.

Jonny: Tell us about this partnership with Blank Canvas? It's exciting! How did it come about? What drew you to Blank Canvas and young people?

Sue: While on my Stepping Up journey, I found out Blank Canvas were looking to set up a safe space for young people within Redcar. I thought we could offer our building and much more, I could achieve my dream and we could rely on their wealth of knowledge and faith to make it happen!

Jonny: Abi, could you explain to us who are Blank Canvas, what do you do and why?

Abi: Blank Canvas is an ecumenical youth charity in Redcar, founded and set up to tell young people about Jesus. We believe the local church is the key to that and therefore we want everything that we do, youth clubs, projects, governance etc to be in partnership with the local church.

Jonny: Youth club sounds like an exciting initiative, tell us what will be happening there each week?

Abi: It is exciting, with myself and Sue leading the youth club, we are joined by a whole host of people from the Baptist Church, United Reformed Church, St Peter’s and St Hilda’s, the three Catholic churches and the community. Unity across the church is special and we want to do and see more. Each week we have games, craft spaces, a gaming area, tuck shop, space just to hang out, the building at St Hilda’s is a perfect space.

Jonny: What is the dream when it comes to youth club? What is your hope as Community Minister?

Sue: My dream is that it continues to grow like a mustard seed, for these young people to have a place they can call theirs and when they feel ready or want to, discover faith. That’s when I want to and will be there for them.

Jonny: How is it going?

Sue: It’s going really well, we started in late September and after four weeks we have gone from 5 to over 30 young people hanging out each week in the church.

Abi: We’re really excited about the start, our heart was to provide a safe space for young people to gather but we are also already seeing them become interested in why it is here, why in a church and that is leading to some great conversations.

Sue Garner, Community Minister

To find out more about St Hilda’s Church, click here and to find out more about Blank Canvas, click here.