Questions to ask about faith and church

How is baptism done here, and can you walk me through it from start to finish?

Find out whether you will be immersed or have water poured, where you stand, what is said and how you will be held. Ask to see the pool or font beforehand and to practice the movements on dry land, which settles a lot of nerves.

From: Questions to Ask Before Baptism

How does your practice sit with your job, money and ambition?

Right livelihood is part of the path, and people draw their lines in different places about acceptable work and how much wanting is too much. Listen for a decision it touched, such as a job turned down or a purchase put off. Without one, the answer is still theory.

From: Questions to Ask a Buddhist

How do you pick people for leadership roles, and what have you learned from getting it wrong?

The second half is where the value is. Good answers describe a process, watching someone in a small role first, rather than intuition about character.

From: Questions to Ask a Pastor About Leadership

What is the hardest part of being pope, and what is the best part?

Asked as a pair so that neither half can be skipped: an answer with only the burden or only the joy is half an answer. Set the two side by side afterward. When they turn out to be the same thing, say meeting people in trouble, you have learned what he thinks the job is.

From: Questions to Ask the Pope

Have I heard this theme from another speaker this weekend?

Keep a tally inside the back cover. The speakers are widely understood to choose their own subjects, so members tend to take notice when one comes up in three or four talks. Your tally is also a quick answer when someone asks what conference was about.

From: Questions to Ask During General Conference

Have you served as a deacon before, here or in another church, and how did that term end?

Whether an earlier ordination carries over, or the person is examined and set apart again, is handled differently from church to church, so find out your own practice first. Then listen to how the term ended. A quarrel or a quiet resignation is worth hearing about from the nominee and, with their permission, from that church.

From: Questions to Ask a Prospective Deacon