Theological Questions to Ask Pastoral Candidate
Questions for a search committee that wants to see how a candidate's theology works out in an ordinary week of ministry: sermon preparation, funerals, pastoral visits, teaching children, money, conflict, confidentiality, and who holds them accountable.
The questions
Open any question for the note
Walk us through how you prepare a sermon in a normal week.
Why ask it
An opener that gets at method through routine: when they start, what they read, whether anyone sees a draft. A process that begins on Saturday evening tells you more than any statement about the authority of Scripture.
How long do you usually preach, and what gets cut when you run out of time?
Why ask it
What survives the cut is what they actually believe the sermon is for. Application, exposition, and illustration each get sacrificed by different preachers, and the pattern is worth knowing.
What do you say at the funeral of someone whose faith you were unsure about?
Why ask it
One of the hardest recurring tasks in ministry, and a question that cannot be answered from a textbook. Listen for whether they can be truthful without being cruel to the family sitting in the front row.
What would you say to a member who has just been given a serious diagnosis?
Why ask it
You are checking whether doctrine arrives before or after presence. Candidates who reach immediately for an explanation of suffering tend to do the same at the bedside, where it lands badly.
How do you decide what the congregation sings?
Why ask it
Music carries more theology through a week than preaching does, and choices reveal what a candidate thinks worship is for. Ask who else has a say, since this is where conflict most often starts.
How do you teach doctrine to children and teenagers?
Why ask it
Look for something concrete they have actually done rather than a philosophy of youth ministry. Answers that hand the whole matter to volunteers tell you where their attention will not be.
How do you respond when a long-standing member tells you they no longer believe?
Why ask it
Reveals whether doubt is treated as a stage to be accompanied or a problem to be corrected. Ask what they would do over the following months, not just in the first conversation.
How do you prepare a couple for marriage, and what would make you decline to conduct one?
Why ask it
The refusal is the informative half. A candidate with no circumstances in which they would decline, and one with a long list, will each create work for the congregation in different ways.
How do you teach about money and giving?
Why ask it
Ask what they say from the pulpit, how often, and whether they know what individual members give. The last part matters, since access to giving records shapes pastoral relationships in ways congregations rarely discuss.
How do you decide someone is ready to teach or lead?
Why ask it
Look for criteria beyond willingness and availability, which is how most volunteer rotas are actually filled. A candidate who has ever told someone no, and can describe it, has thought about this.
What does discipleship look like week to week in your ministry?
Why ask it
Ask for names and hours rather than a model. Answers built entirely around Sunday preaching describe a ministry where nothing else has been organised yet.
What do you do when two members are in conflict and both come to you first?
Why ask it
Tests whether they can hold a position without becoming a channel between two people who should be talking to each other. Watch for anyone who sounds comfortable being the hub.
How do you pray with someone who is angry with God?
Why ask it
Reveals how much room their theology leaves for lament. A candidate who moves quickly to correcting the anger will struggle with the people who need them most.
How is your working week actually divided between study, visiting, and administration?
Why ask it
Ask for rough hours from last week rather than an ideal. The gap between the ideal and the actual is where you learn what this candidate will neglect here.
How do you approach evangelism where people are indifferent rather than hostile?
Why ask it
Indifference is the harder case and the more common one. Answers built on events and campaigns work differently from answers built on ordinary relationships, and your setting will suit one better.
What do you keep confidential, and where are the limits?
Why ask it
A safe answer names the limits clearly: risk of harm to a child or vulnerable adult, threats to life, and legal reporting duties. A candidate who promises absolute confidentiality has not thought this through or has been badly advised.
What would you do if a concern were raised about a volunteer who works with children?
Why ask it
You are listening for immediate escalation to the designated person and the statutory authority, not an internal conversation first. Anything that starts with speaking to the volunteer is a serious problem.
Who holds you accountable, and how would we know if you were struggling?
Why ask it
Ask for names and how often they meet. Ministers who can only cite the congregation or their spouse have no external check, which is how small problems become resignations.
How do you take a day off, and what happens when you do not?
Why ask it
Look for a practice with a boundary that other people know about. Candidates who describe never stopping are describing a burnout that your congregation would eventually have to manage.
What would we notice about this church after three years of your ministry?
Why ask it
A closing question that turns everything else into a prediction you can hold them to. Specific, modest answers are more credible than sweeping ones, and are worth writing down for the first review.
Testing ministry practice, not just doctrine
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Ask for evidence, not intentions
Watch them do the work
Hear three ordinary Sunday sermons, not a conference talk. If your process allows it, ask them to lead a service, teach a midweek group, or take a question and answer session with members.
Use real situations from your own church
Describe an anonymised case you have actually faced, such as a family dispute at a funeral or a volunteer who will not step down, and ask what they would do first. Generic scenarios get generic answers.
Ask for last week, not a typical week
"How do you balance study and visiting" invites the ideal. "What did you do on Tuesday" produces something checkable and often more revealing.
Talking to people who know them
Go beyond the referees they offer
With the candidate's knowledge, speak to a member they have pastored through something hard, a colleague they have disagreed with, and someone who has left their church. Each sees a different person.
Ask about conflict specifically
Ask referees for an occasion when the candidate was opposed and what they did next. This is the single most predictive question you can put to a former elder or colleague.
Check safeguarding practice, not just training
Confirm the required checks and training are current, then ask how a concern was actually handled in their last post. Correct paperwork with poor practice is a familiar combination.
Running the process well
Record answers before you discuss them
Each member writes their notes independently, then you compare. Committees converge on whoever speaks first, and independent notes keep the real disagreements visible.
Involve the people who will be led
Volunteers, young families, and older members notice different things. Arrange low-pressure conversations rather than another formal interview and ask each group what they observed.
Be honest about the post
Tell the candidate about the finances, the previous minister's departure, and the factions. A candidate who accepts a role you have described inaccurately will be leaving within three years.
What goes wrong
Hiring the preaching and hoping for the rest
Strong preaching hides weak administration, poor pastoral care, and an inability to delegate for about a year. Ask about all four separately.
Confusing warmth with pastoral skill
Someone easy to talk to in an interview may still avoid hard conversations, miss hospital visits, or leave problems to elders. Ask for instances of difficult care they carried through.
Skipping the boring questions
Hours, days off, expenses, housing, holiday, and who covers when they are away are unglamorous and are what disputes are actually made of. Settle them in writing before the call.