Mel Benson – Youth Leader

All About Me…
Well over a year ago now I came to Elim Ryedale Church with a plan; to attend church, meet new people and to work out what to do in my career. I had been teaching for 13 years, a job I was passionate about and one I believed to be my ‘calling.’ However, I had also felt for some time that God was telling me to leave it but was so shocked by the prospect that I was pretending to be partially deaf and believed that by going from a full-time timetable to two days a week I was ‘kind of’ doing what God wanted. I was wrong! It was at this time that I visited Hope Central and talked to Andy about ‘doing some volunteering.’ God spoke to me again and three months later I ended my school contract and joined the team full-time as the Administrator. I became the Youth Leader in January which involves running two Youth Groups a week and working in schools in an effort to bring every Young Person into a closer relationship with God and making a difference in the community on heart at a time. I think it’s an enormous privilege to be in this position and whilst I am Mr Cadbury’s greatest purchaser in an attempt to hang on to my sanity, I wouldn’t change it for the world!

Mel’s Musings

Well it has to be said that January has been a rather strange, but wonderful, month for me! Instead of beginning the year in my usual Road Runner-like way, embracing the mayhem and madness of Youth Work, I have been forced to slow down and be still as I’ve journeyed through the Month of Prayer; listening to God and taking the time out to discover what His plans are for our Young People this year. It may come as a bit of a shock, but I’ve actually enjoyed being quiet …I know…me…quiet?! I’m proud to say (or should that be ‘not proud to say’?) I’ve given God a chance to get a word in edgeways and long may it continue! I’ve learnt so much and am really excited about seeing His plans come to fruition.

To reflect the change of pace, we have started X:Talk with a couple of ‘Chill It’ Nights where the beanbags were put to full use to allow conversation to flow freely and friendships to grow. Last week, we had a ‘Play It’ Night entitled, ‘It’s A Knockout’ which involved such games as feeding each other jelly from elongated spoons, trying to carry water on our backs turtle-style whilst trying to avoid spilling a drop, drinking a smoothie concoction in an attempt to guess the ingredients, fighting each other to fill our buckets with plastic balls and running up and down stairs to remember objects in a box. The highlight of this particular evening for me was having the young people stand around me in a circle trying to think of quick responses to given topics whilst I got the privilege of squirting them with a giant water pistol if they hesitated! I obviously found this incredibly difficult!

X:Talk Sunday has continued through the e100 journey and we’ve extended this for February with a focus on ‘Power People; Faith, Hope, Trust.’ We will be meeting together this month to plan for the next year. X:Talk schools continues to be blessed as more young people step into the lunch clubs to play games, have fun and to warm-up with a hot chocolate. Please pray that we see more of them bridge the gap from here to Hope Central in the desire to show them the hope, love and joy a relationship with God can bring. The vision of 2012? To populate Heaven…bring it on!

We have an exciting programme of events under the banner of X:Talk.  These take place during term times except X:Talk Sunday where we meet every Sunday at Norton College.  Why not drop in to see what it’s like?  We can guarantee a friendly welcome and lots of fun and laughter!

X:Talk Tuesdays

This is our main Youth Group and we meet at Hope Central from 7:30pm – 9:00pm. We have the following programme:

Chill It Nights are about relaxing; come play table tennis or pool, chat with friends, meet people whilst we also tantalise your tastebuds with snacks!

Mix It Nights are about focussing on the Community and how Young People can serve to make a difference to the lives of others.

Play It Nights are about being active; a wide range of activities from Beach Games or Paintballing to Sporting Activities like Golf or Waterworld.

Make It Nights are about being creative; from making boxes out of wood to making masks for a big event like a masqued ball.

Raise It Nights are about raising money; not only to fund weekends away for the Youth Group but also for charities such as Compassion, Comic Relief or Children in Need.

Apply It Nights are about exploring Christian Issues; we intersperse fun activities with learning about how we can become better people for God.

X:Talk Fridays

After school on Friday nights, from 4pm – 6pm, Hope Central is open for those aged between 11 and 16.  It’s a time to relax after a long week; use the computers, chat with your friends, play video games, get messy or just chill.  Everyone is welcome.

X:Talk Sundays

On a Sunday we meet together as a whole church at Norton College at 10:30am and after the first part of the service the young people leave the main service to go to X:Talk, which takes place in one of the classrooms. This time spent together is about learning how to apply what the Bible says to our every day lives via interactive activities.  It’s easy to ‘talk the talk,’ but what about ‘walking the walk?’ This is not always so easy; so we get together to learn, discuss, pray and encourage each other.

X:Talk Norton

Every Monday lunchtime, from 12:25 until 1:00pm, Mel and Sue run a lunch Club at Norton College in Room 14.  Come with your friends, bring your lunch, be prepared to get involved in the exciting activities they’ve prepared and they will also make you a delicious hot chocolate to warm you in the winter or a refreshing cold drink to cool you in the summer! Who knows what other treats are in store?!

X:Talk Malton

Every Tuesday lunchtime, from 12:35 – 1:20pm, Mel and Sue run a lunch Club at Malton School in Room 10.  Come with your friends, bring your lunch, be prepared to get involved in the exciting activities they’ve prepared and they will also make you a delicious hot chocolate to warm you in the winter or a refreshing cold drink to cool you in the summer! Who knows what other treats are in store?!