Theological Questions to Ask a Pastoral Candidate
Questions for a search committee interviewing a candidate for a pastorate, focused on doctrine, confessional subscription, and how convictions would be taught and held in your congregation. Written for a conversation, not a written examination.
The questions
Open any question for the note
Tell us how you came to hold the convictions you hold now.
Why ask it
An opening question that gets a narrative rather than a position paper, and shows whether beliefs were inherited, argued for, or arrived at through a hard experience. It also sets a tone that makes the later questions easier to ask.
How do you understand the authority of Scripture, and what difference does that make when you preach?
Why ask it
The second half is the test. A high view stated in the abstract can sit alongside preaching that uses the text as a springboard, so ask for an example from a recent sermon.
Can you affirm our statement of faith without reservation, and if not, where are the exceptions?
Why ask it
Ask plainly and give room for a real answer, because a candidate who hides a reservation now will surface it in a members' meeting in two years. Exceptions stated openly are usually workable, and concealment is not.
Where do you differ from our denomination or tradition, and how would you handle that from the pulpit?
Why ask it
You are looking for someone who can teach a position they hold while being honest that others hold it differently. Answers claiming complete alignment deserve a follow-up question about something specific and contested.
How would you explain the gospel to someone with no church background in five minutes?
Why ask it
Reveals both theology and the ability to teach without jargon. Watch for whether the explanation can be followed by someone who does not already know terms like justification or atonement.
How do you understand the person and work of Christ?
Why ask it
Ask because the answer anchors everything else, then listen for balance. A candidate who is fluent on the cross but thin on the incarnation, resurrection, or present reign will preach that imbalance every week.
What do you believe about salvation, and how would you speak to a member who fears they are not saved?
Why ask it
Pairs doctrine with pastoral practice, which is where a committee learns most. Answers that reach immediately for greater effort from the anxious person tell you how they will handle scrupulous and depressed members.
How do you understand baptism and communion, and who would you admit to them?
Why ask it
The practical questions are the ones that generate conflict: who may be baptised, at what age, and who is welcome at the table. Get specifics rather than a general statement about the sacraments.
What do you believe about the gifts of the Spirit, and what would that look like in our services?
Why ask it
Ask about your own setting rather than in principle. Differences here rarely appear in a doctrinal statement and then surface in the first month over what happens on a Sunday morning.
What is the church for, and how would you know if we were failing at it?
Why ask it
The second half asks for a measure, which most candidates have never been asked to name. Attendance, giving, discipleship, and mission each imply a different ministry, and you want to know which they would actually watch.
What do you believe about the last things, and how much would our congregation hear about it?
Why ask it
The proportion matters as much as the position. A candidate whose eschatology drives their preaching schedule will change the character of the church more than the doctrine itself suggests.
What is your position on women in ministry and leadership?
Why ask it
Ask for the reasoning and the practice, including which roles they would open and which they would not. A candidate whose position differs from your congregation's needs to be able to say how they would serve here anyway.
What is your position on sexuality and marriage, and how would you pastor someone who disagrees with you?
Why ask it
The second half is the part that predicts how the next few years will go. Listen for whether people who disagree are described as members to be cared for or problems to be managed.
How do you understand the relationship between the church and politics?
Why ask it
Ask what they would and would not say from the pulpit in an election year. Answers that promise total silence and answers that promise regular commentary both need testing against what your congregation can bear.
What would you do if a member publicly contradicted your teaching?
Why ask it
Reveals temperament more than theology. Look for a first step that involves a private conversation, and be wary of an answer that moves quickly to authority, discipline, or the pulpit.
What have you changed your mind about theologically, and what changed it?
Why ask it
Strong candidates can name something and explain the reasoning. Nothing at all suggests either a very settled tradition or a mind that has stopped examining itself, and it is worth finding out which.
Which writers have shaped you most, and where do you disagree with them?
Why ask it
The disagreement is the informative half, because it shows they read critically rather than for confirmation. A reading list drawn entirely from one camp also tells you what your congregation will be taught.
What would you want to preach through in your first year here, and why those texts?
Why ask it
Turns doctrine into a concrete plan you can evaluate. The reasons matter more than the books chosen, particularly whether they reflect anything they have learned about this congregation.
What would you refuse to do, even if the congregation asked you to?
Why ask it
Every candidate should have a short list, whether it concerns weddings, funerals, teaching they consider false, or confidentiality. An answer of nothing at all is not humility, it is an absence of settled conviction.
What questions do you have about what we believe?
Why ask it
Closing question, and a good candidate will have several, including ones that are awkward for you. No questions usually means they are seeking a post rather than this congregation.
Running a doctrinal interview
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before you interview
Agree your own position first
Committees that have not settled what they believe end up scoring candidates against different standards. Write down where your congregation actually stands, including the points on which it is genuinely divided.
Separate the non-negotiables from the preferences
Sort your questions into convictions that would rule a candidate out and matters where you could live with disagreement. Doing this in advance stops a secondary issue dominating the discussion afterwards.
Listen to sermons before you meet
Ask for three recordings from ordinary Sundays rather than a conference address. How someone handles a difficult text with no visitors present is the better sample.
In the interview
Ask for examples, not positions
"What is your view of church discipline" produces a paragraph anyone can write. "Tell us about a time you had to confront a member" produces something you can weigh.
Return to a question later in different words
Rehearsed answers are consistent in wording and inconsistent in substance. Coming back to the same topic from another angle an hour later is a fair way to check.
Have one person listen rather than ask
Assign someone to take notes and say nothing. They will catch hedges, gaps, and moments of discomfort that the person asking questions misses.
Write your assessment before you discuss it
Each member should record their view independently. Committees converge quickly on whoever speaks first, and independent notes preserve the disagreements you need to hear.
Beyond the interview
Put the same questions to referees
Ask former elders and colleagues the doctrinal questions you asked the candidate, and ask how they handle being disagreed with. Gaps between the two accounts are the most useful information you will get.
Meet the family's expectations honestly
Talk about housing, schooling, working hours, and what the congregation expects of a spouse. Unstated assumptions here end more ministries than doctrine does.
Ask the people who would disagree with them
Invite members who hold minority views in your congregation to meet the candidate. How the candidate treats them in a low-stakes setting is a fair preview.
Common mistakes
Testing recall instead of understanding
Asking a candidate to define terms produces a seminary answer. Ask them to explain the same doctrine as they would to a teenager, and the depth becomes visible.
Mistaking agreement for suitability
A candidate can match your doctrine exactly and still be unable to lead, teach, or sit with a dying member. Weigh theology alongside the rest rather than as a gate to everything else.
Letting one committee member's issue take over
Single-topic questioning skews the whole interview and gives the candidate a misleading picture of the church. Agree the question list and the time for each area beforehand.
Straying into questions you should not ask
Health, finances, family plans, and age are not doctrinal matters and in many places cannot lawfully be asked. Check what your employment rules allow before the interview, not after.