Senior pastor interview questions

Questions the committee asks

1. Describe your conversion and your call to ministry.
2. What is your position on the inspiration, authority, and inerrancy of the Bible?
3. What is your policy on pastoral counseling?
4. What do you think is the most important thing for you to do during the first year as the new pastor of a church?
5. How do you go about making changes in the church?
6. Describe your leadership style.
7. What measures have you put in place for personal accountability?
8. How do you respond to criticism?
9. What would be your most important priorities in the first 6 months as our pastor?
10. How have you approached issues of financial stewardship in congregations you have served?
11. What type of conflicts have you experienced with other staff members and how was it resolved?
12. Have you ever had to terminate a church staff member? If so, how did you handle it?

Quoted from Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, Pastor Search Committee Handbook, Appendix XVIII.

Questions to ask the committee

Candidates in ministry forums name these as the questions they wish they had asked before saying yes.

• Why did the last pastor leave?
  Raised in r/Reformed, “What questions would you ask a church’s pastoral search committee?”
• What is the salary range for this role?
  Raised in r/pastors, “Why is there so much stigma around pastors asking about salary?”
• Is the housing arrangement (parsonage or allowance) in writing?
  Raised in r/pastors, “The church that hired me is not honoring their...”

Before the interview

• Read the church’s statement of faith on its own website. Every job on Church Posting quotes the confession the church names, when it names one.
• Know the pay. The BLS median for this kind of role in churches is on the senior pastor salary page.
• Keep your ministry profile current, so you can apply with one click where a church takes applications here.

Open senior pastor jobs (3)Questions for other rolesFor committees: the search kit