YPT in Action: Nic Bianchi
We like to talk about the importance of theological depth in youth ministry - but what does that actually look like? YPT is not promoting a one-size-fits-all approach to youth ministry. Instead, we want to encourage youth workers to be anchored in the biblical essentials while practicing wise contextualization in their particular setting. “YPT in Action” will be an ongoing series where youth workers in a variety of contexts answer the same questions so we can learn from one another.
Name: Nic Bianchi
Church/Ministry: Cheam Baptist Church
Title: Youth and Children’s Worker
How long have you served in this ministry: 9 years
How long have you served in vocational ministry overall: 12 years
Ministry Setting: Suburbs of London
Average Church Attendance: Pre-Covid – 250-300, now more like 180-200
Average Youth Group Attendance: 20
Age range of students in ministry: 11-18
Please describe what “Youth Group” looks like in your ministry?
At the moment all our youth (11-18’s) arrive on Friday evening at 7:30pm. We have a Bible talk for about 20 minutes (currently in John 16-18). After this they split into age groups to have discussion times, based on the talk they just heard. This usually lasts till 8:30pm. Then we play a wide game or sport activity with everyone till 9pm. At this point the 11-14’s go home – but the 15-18’s stay on till 10pm and we do more relaxed and informal games/activities.
What are your regularly-scheduled youth ministry programs?
Friday evening youth (as described above).
Sunday morning Bible study for 11-14’s.
Sunday evening discussion groups as part of the evening service (created for 15-18’s but younger also attend).
Mid-week small Bible study groups for the 15-18’s.
We aim to have a weekend away once a year if we can.
How would you describe your teaching style in youth group:
Somewhere between preaching and teaching – before breaking off into small discussion groups. The talks can be anywhere between 10 and 25 minutes (depending on who is leading that evening)
What are some recent series you’ve taught through, and how many weeks long were they?
Usually our teaching series last either half a term (6-8 weeks), or a full term (12-16 weeks).
Recent series include apologetics questions, John 16-18, Job, 1 Peter, Dipping in to 1 & 2 Samuel, Galatians, Hebrews, and Judges.
YPT obviously values teaching theology and doctrine in our ministry to students. What does that look like for you?
To us that means solid Bible teaching that looks at a broad range of different books from the Bible, as well as occasionally tackling topical and doctrinal issues in stand-alone series. However with a systematic approach to teaching the Bible, many of these issues and doctrines arise naturally over the course of the year.
How do you seek to partner with parents?
I try to keep the parents in the loop about what’s going on. But this has honestly been something that fluctuates over time. During lockdown we had parenting younger children sessions (which have continued), and parenting teen sessions (that haven’t). We used to also have evenings where parents would come along and find out what we were doing with their young people, and we could give them some teaching too.
How do you seek to integrate students into the life of the church?
Lots of our young people serve in different ministries (music group, sound team, livestream – but also many are part of my Kids Club Team (working with 5-11’s). I operate a ‘junior leadership’ team where we give them different levels of responsibility (depending on a few factors). But they will organise and run games and activities, lead Bible discussions with the children, help with practical tasks, and sometimes are given opportunities to deliver talks to the kids too.
What are some of the books you think every youth worker would benefit from reading?
A Biblical Theology of Youth Ministry (McGarry) – “the best book on Youth Ministry in the last 20 years.”
Amaze Them With God (de Young) – Short, practical, engaging at every level, and just helpful reminders of the centrality of God in all we do.
Gentle & Lowly (Ortlund) – The pastoral heart for those who try and fail, but keep walking with the Lord.
The Pursuit of Holiness (Bridges) – God is more concerned with our character than our ministry.
Case for Christ (Strobel) or similar apologetics – All youth leaders need to be utterly convinced of the historical reality and theological significance of Christ’s death and resurrection.
What are some particular issues/struggles that your students/families encounter that may not be prominent in other ministry contexts? How does that affect the shape of your ministry?
Homosexuality and the gender debate – hot topics at school. Identity – who am I and who gets to decide that? Relationships – questions of appropriateness and how far is too far? Mental health & suicide – so rife in young people.
Occasionally we will have one-off events where we will talk about one of these issues (either as a multi-church youth event, or within our programme). We try to address these issues in smaller group settings, or as they come up – but they don’t tend to shape the ministry as a whole. Inevitably for every child who struggles with one particular issue, many others don’t. So we try not to be reactive, but proactive in how we incorporate these discussion times.
What’s one thing that you do in your ministry that could be easily-adapted for others?
I run my own apologetics course covering a few key questions/topics. Always makes for interesting conversations – and can be honed in to students, or extended to the wider church: butwhatif.org.