Questions to Ask a Prospective Pastor
Questions to ask a prospective pastor, written for the search committee or pastor search team planning a pastoral interview, not for candidates preparing answers. They cover what a church usually wants to put to a potential pastor across a whole search, from the first interview with a pastoral candidate to the last conversation about terms: calling, beliefs, preaching and worship, care and outreach, leadership, and the terms of the call together with the candidate's background. Nothing here is tied to one denomination: a congregation voting on a single candidate for pastor and a committee comparing several ministerial candidates can put the same things to them, under their own names for the board and the call.
Want questions from the whole vault instead? Try the random question generator.
The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Calling
How did you come to faith, and how did you know you were called to pastoral ministry?
Why ask it
Start here, because it is the one story they have told many times and the easiest to settle into. Listen for whether anyone else confirmed the call, such as a congregation, a mentor or an ordaining body, or whether it rests on their own sense alone.
Why are you open to leaving your current church, and what draws you to this one?
Why ask it
The two halves should fit together. Someone escaping a hard season tends to describe the old place at length and yours in a sentence, so ask what they would miss about where they are now.
Apart from sermon preparation, what do your own prayer and Bible reading look like, and when do you rest?
Why ask it
The honest answer is often uneven, and a candidate who admits a dry stretch is easier to believe than one with a flawless routine. What counts is something specific and already in place: a reading plan, a day off actually taken, a peer group or a spiritual director.
What would the people you serve now say you do best, and what would they say you put off?
Why ask it
Borrowing the congregation's voice gets a truer list than asking for strengths and weaknesses outright. Write down whatever they name as put off, since that is the work a lay leader or staff member here will end up carrying.
If you took this call, how would you spend your first six months here?
Why ask it
Look for listening before restructuring: home visits, funerals, learning names, reading the minutes of the last three years. Candidates who arrive with a program to install tend to collide with the people who built the last one.
Describe the congregation you serve now. Who is in the room on an ordinary Sunday?
Why ask it
An easy one, and it tells you the scale they are used to, whether forty people or four hundred, one service or three. Notice whether they describe people (ages, households, who sits where) or mostly programs and numbers.
What did you learn about us before today, and what still puzzles you?
Why ask it
The homework shows the work habits. Candidates who have read the annual reports, listened to a service, or driven through the neighborhood arrive with specific questions, while others arrive with a description of themselves that would fit any congregation.
What kind of congregation would you be a poor fit for?
Why ask it
Every minister has one: too large, too rural, too divided, too settled in its ways. A candidate who can name it is helping you decide, while one who could serve anywhere wants the post more than the match.
From the outside, what do you think we are not seeing about ourselves?
Why ask it
Save it for a later meeting, once they have seen the building, the budget and a few of the people. An accurate answer will sting a little, and a candidate willing to risk one is likely to be straight with you after the call as well. Thank them for it, whatever they say.
Who shaped you as a minister, and who do you still go to for advice?
Why ask it
The names tell you which tradition they really stand in, which is sometimes not the one on the application. The second half shows whether there is a person they can phone after a bad week, or whether they have been working it out alone.
What have you read or studied in the last year that changed something you do?
Why ask it
Titles alone tell you little, so wait for the second half: a habit dropped, a class rewritten, a different way of running a meeting. It also opens the subject of training without quizzing them on degrees you already have on paper.
Which parts of this work drain you, and what puts something back?
Why ask it
Hold what drains them against what your church has most of. A pastor worn down by committee meetings will struggle in a congregation that runs on them. If the answer is that nothing does, ask which day of the week they dread.
Beliefs
Which beliefs do you hold as essential, and where can a member disagree with you and still belong?
Why ask it
Put your statement of faith beside the answer afterwards and go through it line by line. If your church has argued over a particular doctrine, name it here instead of hoping it comes up. The second half tells members how much of their own thinking they will be free to say out loud.
Tell us about a member who disagreed with you strongly on a matter of belief. What happened to the relationship?
Why ask it
Their convictions are on paper already, and this shows what those convictions are like to live under. Find out whether that person is still in the church, whether the two of them still talk, and whether the disagreement ever reached the pulpit.
How would you explain the gospel to someone who has never been inside a church?
Why ask it
Have them do it then and there, in the words they would use at a kitchen table. If it takes ten minutes and a glossary, that is how it will sound to a visitor on Sunday too.
What authority does the Bible have for you, and how does that shape the way you prepare to teach it?
Why ask it
Committees tend to accept a one-word label here and move on. Press for the working method: which translations and commentaries they reach for, how they treat passages that Christians read in more than one way, and what they do when their tradition and the text seem to pull apart.
In your own words, what is a local church for?
Why ask it
The priorities come out in the order they list them: worship, teaching, care for one another, reaching people outside. Hold that order against how your congregation spends its money and its evenings, because a pastor who ranks them differently will want to move both.
What should it mean to be a member of a church, and how do you bring someone into membership?
Why ask it
Practice runs from a signature on a card to a class, an interview and a public promise. Lay your own beside the answer, then ask what they do about people on the roll who have not come in years, since tidying that list upsets families who still think of the church as theirs.
Where do you differ from our statement of faith or our denomination's stated positions?
Why ask it
Send the documents ahead so the answer is about the actual wording. Few ministers agree with every line, and the answer to trust names the differences plainly and says how they would serve inside the tradition anyway.
How do you practice baptism and communion, and who do you believe should receive them?
Why ask it
Compare this with what your congregation does now, down to the details: infants or professing believers, who is welcome at the table, how often it is served. A change here reaches every family, so if they would want one, find out how quickly.
What roles do you believe are open to women in the church, and how has that worked where you have served?
Why ask it
Your congregation already has a custom, written down or not, and the women who lead, teach or serve in it now will be waiting on this answer. Have them describe what happened in a previous church when their view and its custom did not line up.
Which weddings would you agree to perform, and which would you decline?
Why ask it
Requests come early, often from the families of long-standing members. Cover couples from outside the congregation, remarriage after divorce and whatever your tradition is currently debating, then ask what preparation they require of a couple and whether the decision is theirs alone or shared with the leadership.
Preaching and worship
Take us through a sermon you preached in the last month. How did you decide what to say?
Why ask it
Preparation shows up in the detail: what they read, how early they started, whether anyone saw it first. Ask also for one that did not land, because how a preacher recovers from a bad Sunday tells you more than a strong example does.
In an ordinary week, how many hours go into a sermon, and on which days?
Why ask it
The figure matters less than whether the time is fenced off. Ask what becomes of it in a week with two funerals, and whether anyone reads or hears the sermon before Sunday.
Do you preach through books of the Bible, follow the lectionary, or choose topics, and why?
Why ask it
Each approach feeds a congregation differently over a year, and yours is used to one of them. Last year's preaching calendar, if they kept one, shows the real pattern better than any description of style. While you are there, ask how long a typical sermon runs.
If we listened to a year of your sermons, which themes would we hear you come back to?
Why ask it
Every preacher has a few, perhaps grace, justice, holiness or the family, and not many can name their own. Test the answer against three or four recordings picked at random, because those themes are what a congregation absorbs over ten years.
Which passages do you find hardest to preach, and what do you do when one comes up?
Why ask it
A candidate with no hard passages has probably preached very little, or is managing the interview. This is where the congregation will actually notice their interpretive method, since it is under strain rather than on display.
How do you preach to a room that holds lifelong members and people who have never opened a Bible?
Why ask it
Most Sundays have both, and a sermon pitched at only one loses the other. Specific habits count for more than a wish to be accessible: explaining a term the first time it comes up, giving the page number, telling people why a passage was chosen.
How do you decide when to preach on something contested and when to leave it alone?
Why ask it
Politics, sexuality, and money are the usual candidates. You want a stated threshold rather than a reassurance, because a committee that does not ask this tends to find out in month three, from the pulpit, alongside everyone else.
How, and how often, do you talk about giving from the pulpit?
Why ask it
Some preach on it once a year at pledge time, some whenever the text raises it, and some hand it to a lay leader. A church under financial strain needs a pastor who can raise the subject without apologizing or scolding, so ask to hear the last sermon where they did.
Who gives you honest feedback on your preaching, and what did they last tell you?
Why ask it
Preachers hear "nice sermon" at the door every week and very little else. One who has arranged real critique, from a colleague or a few trusted members, will keep improving after you call them, and the most recent piece of feedback shows whether they acted on it.
Who chooses the music and shapes the service where you are now, and what would you do in a church that disagrees about style?
Why ask it
Describe your own congregation's position honestly, including who would be upset by a change in either direction. Useful answers name something they would leave untouched, something they would change slowly, and who they would consult before doing either.
Beyond Sunday morning, what else would you expect to teach in a normal week?
Why ask it
Bible studies, membership classes, confirmation, a midweek service: congregations assume the new pastor will carry on whatever the last one did. Say what yours currently expects and watch which parts they warm to and which they would hand to someone else.
Care and outreach
When a member goes into the hospital, how do you hear about it, and what do you do next?
Why ask it
A pastor can be willing to visit and still not find out in time. Answers worth having involve a system, such as a rotation of visitors, a phone tree or a deacon who reports weekly, because a pastor who waits to be told misses the members with nobody to do the telling.
In a normal week, how many visits and calls do you make, and who shares that work with you?
Why ask it
Press for a number, even a rough one, and set it beside what your last pastor did, because that is the standard your members will measure by. The second half shows whether elders, deacons or lay visitors shared the load or it all fell to one person.
Tell us about a funeral you led for someone you barely knew.
Why ask it
Many funerals are for a family the pastor meets only days beforehand, sometimes people with no other tie to the church. Listen for what they asked the family, how they handled a life that was complicated, and whether they stayed in contact in the months afterwards.
What do you do for a family in the first days after a death?
Why ask it
Practical detail is the test: how soon they arrive, what they ask, who else from the church they bring in, what they avoid saying. Then ask about the months afterwards, when the meals have stopped arriving and the first anniversary is coming.
If someone tells you something in confidence, where are the limits of that?
Why ask it
A candidate should be able to state the limits without hesitating: risk of harm to a child or a vulnerable adult, and whatever reporting duties apply to clergy where you are. Those duties differ by state and country, so check yours with your denomination before the interview. A candidate with no settled answer has not yet had to think it through.
If a member told you they were being hurt at home, what would you do first?
Why ask it
Listen for that person's safety first and the reporting route second: your safeguarding policy, the denomination, and the authorities whenever a child or vulnerable adult is involved or the law where you are requires it. An instinct to sit both people down together, or to keep the matter inside the church, is a reason to stop the process.
What boundaries do you keep when you meet with someone one-on-one?
Why ask it
Practical habits are what you are after: a door with a window, someone else in the building, a limit on sessions before they refer on, care about private messaging. These protect the person seeking help as much as the pastor, and a candidate who finds the question insulting has missed the point of it.
When someone brings you a problem beyond your training, such as addiction or a mental health crisis, what do you do?
Why ask it
A sound answer has a referral list in it and a clear sense of where pastoral support stops. Be wary of anyone who expects to counsel everything personally, and find out how they stay alongside a person once a professional is involved.
What is the hardest pastoral situation you have faced, and what did it change in how you work?
Why ask it
Give them a moment to choose, and expect names and details to be disguised. A minister with years of service and nothing they now do differently has either forgotten the hard cases or stopped examining them.
How do you stay close to members who can no longer get to church?
Why ask it
Members who are homebound or in a nursing home often gave the most to the place and now hear from it least. A workable answer has a rhythm in it, perhaps monthly visits, communion brought to them or a team of lay visitors, and is realistic about how much one person can cover.
How do you help a person move from attending on Sundays to growing in faith?
Why ask it
Discipleship is a word every candidate uses, so ask what it consisted of in their last church on a weekday evening. Small groups, one-on-one meetings, a reading plan, serving beside someone older in the faith: you want the actual arrangement and roughly how many people took part.
Tell us about someone you walked with from no faith to baptism or membership.
Why ask it
One real person, with the name changed, is worth more than a philosophy of evangelism. Notice how long it took and what their own part in it was, and give them a moment to choose an example they are free to share.
What has your work with children and teenagers looked like, and what would you want to know about ours?
Why ask it
Some pastors lead the youth group themselves and others have never taught a children's class, and either can work if you know in advance. The questions they ask back, about numbers, volunteers and where the families have gone, reveal whether young people are their concern or someone else's department.
How would you serve the teenagers of a church that has only a handful of them?
Why ask it
This tests whether they can work at the size you are, not the size they would like. Realistic answers start with those few young people by name and with their families: a meal, a part in the service, an adult who keeps showing up. A plan that needs a youth room and a budget belongs to a different church.
What should happen between a visitor's first Sunday and the day they feel they belong?
Why ask it
Find out what they set up elsewhere: who followed up, how soon, and what came after the handshake at the door. Then tell them truthfully how many visitors you see in a month, since a plan built for a crowd of newcomers is little use to a church that gets a handful.
What has a church you served done for its neighborhood, and what part did you play?
Why ask it
Get one thing they started and one they ended, with the reasons for both. Ending a tired program well is harder than launching a new one, and it says more about their judgment.
How much of a church's money and attention should go to mission beyond its own community?
Why ask it
Bring your own figures: what you give to missionaries, a denominational fund or partner churches, and who decided it. Some pastors arrive with partners they want supported and others would redirect the money locally, so find out which before the budget meeting does it for you.
Leadership
How do you see the pastor's role alongside our elders, deacons or board, and who should be able to tell you no?
Why ask it
Use the name of your own governing body, since the words mean different things from one tradition to the next. The answer shows whether they see it as accountability they want or an obstacle to route around, so ask for an occasion when a lay body overruled them and what they did the following week.
Which decisions would you expect to make on your own, and which belong to the board or the congregation?
Why ask it
Use real cases, because agreement in the abstract is easy: hiring a part-time worker, moving the service time, spending a modest sum from reserves, replacing the hymnbook. Where their answer and yours differ, read your constitution or bylaws together before going further.
Who holds you accountable outside the church you serve, and how often do you meet?
Why ask it
A name and a schedule are what count: a supervisor, a bishop or regional minister, a peer group, a spiritual director. Accountability to God and the board in general often means nobody has put a direct question to them in years. With their permission, that person is also worth a phone call.
How would you describe the way you lead, and what would someone who served on a board with you say?
Why ask it
Self-descriptions run to words like collaborative and servant-hearted, which is why the second half is there. Get one recent decision they made alone and one they deliberately handed to others, with the reasons each went the way it did.
Where would you want this church to be in five years, and how much of that is yours to decide?
Why ask it
A detailed vision for a congregation they met last month was brought along from somewhere else. The second half matters more: whether direction is something they announce, or something worked out with the people who will still be here after they have gone.
From what you have seen of us so far, what would you leave exactly as it is?
Why ask it
Change is the subject candidates prepare for, so this one catches them thinking. Two or three things named as worth keeping (a midweek meal, the way the children are prayed for, an old hymn at the close) show that they have looked at the church you are, and give anxious members something to hold on to.
Tell us about a major change you led. Who did you consult, and how long did it take?
Why ask it
Pace is what to listen for. A service time moved in a month and a building project spread over three years can both be right, provided the candidate can say who was unhappy, what was done about it, and whether those people are still in the church.
When two groups in a church were at odds, what did you do, and what would you do differently now?
Why ask it
Hear whether they can put the case of the side they disagreed with fairly, and whether they ended up carrying messages between the two. The second half shows if anything changed in their practice afterwards, or only in how they tell the story.
Tell us about a conflict in which you were one of the parties. What was your own part, and how did it end?
Why ask it
Standing between two groups lets a pastor be the peacemaker, and here they have to be a participant. Hold out for a real case with an ending, and for a sentence about what they got wrong. Someone who was the only reasonable person in every dispute may one day describe your church the same way.
What is a criticism you received that turned out to be fair?
Why ask it
Pastors are criticized constantly, some of it petty and some of it accurate, and the skill lies in telling the two apart. A good answer speaks of the critic with respect and names a specific thing that changed. If every example is unfair criticism patiently endured, ask again.
Tell us about a time a member's behavior was harming others in the church. What did you do?
Why ask it
Some traditions call this church discipline and have written rules for it, so ask what the rules required and who else was involved. A careful answer starts with a private conversation, brings in other leaders before anything is said publicly, and keeps the people who were hurt as the first concern.
How do you work with paid staff and with volunteers who have held their roles for decades?
Why ask it
The telling case is a time they had to end someone's volunteer role. Find out who they spoke to first, whether the person is still in the church, and what they would do differently.
What do you say when a member tells you the last pastor did it differently?
Why ask it
They will hear it within the first month, probably about something small like where the announcements go. Curiosity is the answer to hope for: asking why it was done that way and who it mattered to, before deciding whether it is worth changing.
How much of what the previous pastor built would you expect to carry on?
Why ask it
Tell them first what your members are attached to and what quietly ran out of energy. New pastors arrive either as the next in a line or as a correction, and a congregation senses which within weeks. If your former pastor still lives nearby or worships with you, ask how they would handle that too.
Who is leading something today because you trained them to?
Why ask it
You want a name, and what that person now does without supervision. A pastor who did everything personally leaves a hole on departure, and your congregation may be recovering from exactly that.
How do you keep children and vulnerable adults safe in a church, and what would you do if an allegation were made about a volunteer?
Why ask it
You are listening for reporting first and investigating second, together with concrete habits: background checks kept current, two adults present with children, records kept. Who must report and to whom differs by state and country, so know your own rules before you ask. Anyone who frames it as paperwork, or would handle it quietly to protect the church, should not go further.
What part do you expect to play in the church's finances, and should a pastor know what members give?
Why ask it
Traditions and individual ministers split on the second half, with thoughtful reasons on each side. Their view needs to match your treasurer's practice, and they should expect more than one person to count, sign and report.
How do you tell whether a church is healthy, beyond attendance and offering?
Why ask it
Headcount and giving are the easy measures, and a candidate who stops there will manage to those two numbers. Fuller answers include things that are hard to count: how newcomers are absorbed, whether members can disagree and stay, who is being prepared to lead next.
Terms and background
How do you divide a working week between study, people and administration, and how many evenings does it take?
Why ask it
Put rough hours on each part. If their week and the committee's assumptions differ by ten hours in either direction, you have found the first conflict of the appointment, and it is better found now.
What commitments outside this congregation would come with you?
Why ask it
Study, writing, speaking, denominational committees, a second job, a chaplaincy: none of these is a problem once it is known. Settle roughly how many Sundays a year they would be away and who covers, and write it down with the other terms.
How do the people closest to you feel about a possible move, as far as you want to say?
Why ask it
A move like this lands on a whole household, so the subject is worth opening. Keep it an invitation: rules on asking about family differ by country and by how a church is classed as an employer, so check how it works where you are. Whatever they share, a spouse is not an unpaid member of staff.
What would you need from us for this call to be sustainable for you?
Why ask it
Money comes next, so keep this one to the rest: a day off the congregation respects, an understanding about calls after hours, time away for study, someone to cover Sundays when they are sick. Unspoken expectations on these are easier to settle now than to argue over in year two.
What do you expect in pay, and what else would need to be part of the package?
Why ask it
Salary, housing or a housing allowance, retirement contributions, continuing education and sabbatical are separate items, and assumptions differ widely between denominations. Clergy pay and housing are also taxed differently from place to place, so have your treasurer or denominational office confirm how it works where you are before quoting a figure.
If we called you, when could you start, and what do you owe the church you are leaving?
Why ask it
A candidate ready to walk out in two weeks may one day leave you the same way. Expect a notice period, a plan for handing over, and some thought about a break between posts, and check whether your denomination sets its own timetable.
Walk us through each place you have served, how long you stayed, and why you left.
Why ask it
Go post by post with their application open, including any gaps between posts. Each departure should have a plain reason that someone from that church would recognize. Where the account turns vague, mark it as a question for a reference there.
How long do you picture staying in one church, and what would make you leave?
Why ask it
Nobody can promise a number, but their history is a guide: set the answer beside the length of each previous post and ask about the short ones. Candid answers to the second half describe a limit, such as a governance structure they could not work within or a family need, and an answer of never is less reassuring than it sounds.
What would we find if we looked you up online, and how do you decide what to post?
Why ask it
Look before the interview, then ask anyway. A pastor is a public figure in a small community, and a candidate who has thought about that will have a rule for themselves. One who has not may learn it at your expense.
Is there anything in your past, in conduct, finances or a previous post, that we should hear from you first?
Why ask it
Say it plainly and then wait through the silence. This does not replace background checks or a call to the denominational office, but a candidate who volunteers something difficult has shown you how they will act when the next hard thing happens.
Who knows your ministry well but is not on your reference list, and may we speak to them?
Why ask it
References are chosen to be kind. Hesitation is reasonable if their present congregation does not yet know they are looking, so agree on a stage at which such calls can be made. A refusal at every stage is something to weigh.
What do you want to ask us, and who else would you like to talk to before deciding?
Why ask it
Their questions often show what went wrong for them last time, and the people they ask to meet are just as telling. Asking to speak with the treasurer, the youth, or someone who left the congregation is the mark of a candidate doing serious discernment.
Running a pastoral search well
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Shape of the process
- Before anyone is interviewed, agree on the two or three things this congregation most needs from its next pastor, whether that is preaching, care, administration or work with young families, and write them down. Without that list a committee drifts toward whoever was warmest in the room.
- Meet more than once, and let the second conversation be less formal. People relax by then, and a meal or a walk around the building often tells you more than the formal hour did.
- Hear them preach in an ordinary service somewhere, not at a showcase event. Ask a member of that congregation what an average Sunday sounds like.
- Put different ages and different factions in the room. A candidate who connects only with the people who chose them inherits a divided congregation.
- Give them time alone with the people they would work with daily: the administrator, the musician, the youth leader.
- Agree beforehand what would rule a candidate out, and write it down. A committee worn down by a long vacancy can talk itself past concerns it recorded in week one.
Spreading the questions over several meetings
- No single pastoral interview holds this many questions. Pick eight to ten for a first conversation, mostly on calling, beliefs and preaching, and keep the rest for later rounds.
- Send the factual ones ahead in writing: essential beliefs, baptism and communion practice, differences with the denomination. Written answers leave the meeting free for stories and follow-ups.
- Give each question to one committee member, so the follow-up comes from someone listening for that answer and nobody talks over anybody else.
- Ask every candidate the same core questions. Comparing people who faced different interviews is unfair to them and hard to explain to the congregation afterwards.
- Have each member write down their own impressions before the committee talks a candidate over. Discussed first, the view of the most confident person in the room becomes everyone's memory of the interview.
- Pay, housing and start dates can wait until you are down to one or two candidates. The questions on keeping children safe and on their past cannot wait for the final round.
Checks that need doing properly
- Verify current background checks yourself rather than accepting an assurance, and follow whatever process your denomination or jurisdiction requires.
- Confirm ordination and current standing with the denomination or ordaining body itself, not from the certificate in the application.
- Contact the denominational or regional office directly about any disciplinary history, and ask the question in writing. If the candidate's churches were independent, put it to a former board chair or elder instead.
- Ask the candidate outright whether any complaint has ever been made about their conduct, and how it was resolved.
- Speak to at least one person beyond the reference list, ideally a lay leader from a previous congregation rather than a colleague.
- Ask each reference the question that gets an answer: not whether they would recommend the candidate, but what the candidate found difficult and who found the candidate difficult.
How to listen to the answers
Strong candidates answer with people and dates in them: a family they sat with, a board meeting that went wrong, a program they closed. Weak answers describe values without instances, and the fix is a single follow-up: "when was that?" Ask it twice and the picture usually clarifies. Pay attention to how they talk about the congregation they are leaving, since that is roughly how they will talk about yours. Pay attention too when they say they do not know, which from an experienced minister is often a sign of accuracy rather than a gap.
Where searches go wrong
- Choosing on preaching alone. Preaching is one morning; the other six days are visiting, administration, and conflict.
- Mistaking warmth in an interview for the ability to hold a difficult meeting.
- Leaving expectations about hours, days off, and availability unstated because they feel awkward to raise.
- Failing to write down what was agreed, so that the first year becomes an argument about memory.
- Softening the congregation's real problems during the interview. Candidates who arrive to a situation they were not told about tend to leave early.
- Rushing at the end of a long vacancy and skipping the checks.
Before you make an offer
- Put the terms in writing: pay, housing, retirement contributions, day off, vacation, study leave, moving costs, and who pays for what.
- Name who the pastor answers to, how often they meet, and what that review looks like.
- Set a date, around a year in, for both sides to talk honestly about how it is going.
- Say plainly what the congregation is struggling with, in the letter as well as the conversation.
- Agree how a disagreement between the pastor and the leadership will be handled, while everyone is still on good terms.