Okay, well, he doesn’t exactly comment on youth ministry. But in an interview at The Exiled Preacher, Vanhoozer is asked about the pastor’s task as theologian. I’ve argued elsewhere that a youth minister has a similar theological responsibility, and think there are obvious parallels.

Guy Davies: In the Drama of Doctrine, you suggested that the theologian is a “dramaturge”, whose task is to enable the pastor -director to understand the biblical script. But not all pastors make time read great works of theology. They are too busy preparing sermons, visiting their people, organising the church’s evangelistic programme and so on. Why should pastors make the effort to become pastor-theologians?

Kevin Vanhoozer: Both parts of the Great Commission, evangelism and making disciples, require theology. Theology is a form of the ministry of the Word; specifically, theology is a the ministry of Christian understanding. We need theology in our evangelism because theology is about preserving the integrity of the word, the message of the gospel an evangelist proclaims. We need theology in our disciple making because theology is about reminding us who we are and what we are to say and do as followers of Jesus Christ in this or that situation.

The world is filled with therapists and managers. What the church needs now is people who can (1) articulate from the Bible the truth about God, the world, and ourselves in terms that are faithful to the Bible and intelligible in the contemporary context (2) exhort their congregations to say and do things that corresponds to the truth of Jesus Christ as attested in the Bible.