Things to Ask a Prospective Pastor

by Aaron Blumer

I’ve never been on a pulpit committee. But I have interacted with a few and read a fair number of screening questionnaires. I’ve seen the results of pulpit committee work many times. In my experience, both pulpit committees and congregations tend to overlook matters of great importance when choosing the pastors who will lead and feed them.
Some of these matters are fairly obvious. The committee should get a comprehensive employment and ministry history and make contact with someone at every church where the candidate has served. If there are large gaps, the committee should do a criminal background check. The committee should verify the prospect’s training credentials and have him read the church’s doctrinal statement and comment on points of tension (if there are no points of tension, he’s either not being honest or the doctrinal statement is not comprehensive). Of course, the committee should ask about all the sensitive, emotionally charged issues churches tend to fight about (translations and music, for example).

And nowadays, it should be fairly easy to obtain and evaluate several preaching recordings, preferably in different settings over an extended period of time. If the committee notices overused phrases and repeated rants on pet topics, it should be concerned. What’s slightly annoying on a sermon recording may be extremely distracting in the pulpit every Sunday.

Some less obvious matters also require evaluation. How are his interpersonal skills? How does he view his role? How does he handle opposition and criticism? What liberties does he believe he is entitled to?

It isn’t possible to provide a comprehensive guide here (others have already written entire books on the subject). But among the many good questions, three have never been posed to me that I would certainly ask if I were on a pulpit committee. In my view, no prospective pastor should be voted on as a candidate until these questions are asked and answered.

1. How would you respond to a church member who told you he believed you had handled a matter unbiblically or had preached something unbiblical?

If the candidate answers the question honestly and thoroughly, his answer will reveal a great deal about how he views the office of pastor and what he believes about the priesthood of the believer.

A good answer would reflect the prospective pastor’s understanding that he is not above being questioned, that responding to criticism is one of his most important teaching opportunities, and that he must always understand first and respond later. A detailed response might look something like this:

First, I’d commend him for putting the focus on the question that matters most (“what does the Bible teach?”). Second, I’d ask him to explain what he believes Scripture to teach and why. This should be done with Bibles open and pages turning. Here it’s important that I not only correctly understand what he’s saying (Prov. 18:13) but that he knows I correctly understand what he’s saying. After that, a variety of steps might be warranted, but I can’t detail them all here. He may have some good observations I should think over. He may have a view I do not hold and on which we do not really need to agree. He may have stumbled into serious error, or he may only be seeking control that does not belong to him. Each of these requires a different response. In no case is “you shouldn’t question what I say because I’m your pastor” true or helpful.

Any hint that the prospective pastor is confusing his office with that of a king or a prophet (“the Lord’s anointed”) is a bright warning light. But he should know that even the prophets were supposed to be questioned according to a specific protocol (see Deut. 13). Paul actually recommended that his listeners reject him should he be heard declaring “any other gospel” (Gal.1:8-9). This command assumed the believers’ ability to judge the content of what they had heard by what they already knew to be authoritative.

So the prospective pastor should indicate that he does not expect to be believed simply because he has spoken. He is called to persuade (2 Tim. 2:25; Tit. 1:9). And he should understand that the injunction to be “swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath” (James 1:19) includes pastors.

2. If you were called to pastor a congregation that permitted you to spend church funds without permission from other leaders, what would you do to ensure that you “provide honorable things … in the sight of men” (2 Cor. 8.21)?

Scripture nowhere describes a scenario in which a local church is ruled by one pastor who is accountable to no one but God. In other words, the idea that the biblical chain of command places a solitary man between Christ and His church is unfounded.

Three facts require consideration on this point. First, Scripture nearly always refers to elders in the plural. Second, the Bible reports that congregations were actively involved in important decisions (Acts 6:5, 1 Cor. 5:4). And third, Scripture records that funds were handled by multiple individuals for the purpose of keeping things manifestly honest (2 Cor. 8:19-21).

[He] was also chosen by the churches to travel with us with this gift, which is administered by us to the glory of the Lord Himself and to show your ready mind, avoiding this: that anyone should blame us in this lavish gift which is administered by us—providing honorable things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men. (2 Cor. 8:19-21, NKJV)

Taken together, these facts commend open and accountable money-handling procedures in the local church. If Paul, in the office of apostle, sought to have others involved with him in handling donations, how can anyone claim that a pastor may act unilaterally or secretly?

Consequently, the prospective pastor answering this question ought to say that he would seek to have the church change its policies so that (a) the pastor does not directly access church funds and (b) no single individual has the power to spend church money without detailed accountability to other church leaders and general accountability to the congregation. (For efficiency’s sake, the accountability might be better in the form of after-the-fact reporting rather than ahead-of-time permission). The prospective pastor should also answer that until these policies are changed, he should publicly commit himself to submitting itemized reports to other church leaders.

A pulpit committee should not, under any circumstances, recommend a candidate who is not willing to be accountable for his spending of church funds.

3. What does it mean if a pastor preaches a passionate, biblically sound message, but no one raises a hand or walks the aisle at the end? What if this result is repeated for months on end?

This question aims to reveal how the prospective pastor measures his effectiveness. I have personally witnessed high levels of frustration and eventually despair in pastors who believed success in their calling depended directly on the phenomenon we have come to know as “decisions.” Simply put, the belief is that if nobody responds during the “invitation,” nothing has been accomplished.

This focus on the number of salvation decisions, “rededications” and the like, is based, in part, on confusion about sanctification. Does growth in holiness (sanctification) occur only in a series of dramatic turning points at the end of church services or might it follow the pattern of “growing in Grace” (2 Pet. 3:18) or daily putting off of particular sinful ways and putting on of virtues (Eph. 4:20-32, Col. 3:5-14, 2 Pet.1:5-11)? Might it take the form of “abounding more and more” in Christian character (1 Thess. 4:1, 10)?

When it comes growth in the lives of believers, what happens during the week is at least as important as what happens on Sunday. It’s then that what believers have heard soaks in, is reinforced by their own Bible study, and influences their thinking and decision making.

Many of the details of how sanctification works are debatable. But Scripture cannot be reasonably construed to teach that pulpit work (much less pastoral work as a whole) only has value if it produces immediate visible results at the conclusion of the message. This shortsighted view overlooks the objective worship significance of preaching (we have honored God by giving Him our attention) not to mention the long history of faithful preachers in Scripture who saw little visible fruit (most of the prophets, for example).[1]

In view of all this, the prospective candidate should answer this question in a way that shows he does not have invitation monomania. If he is thinking that way, his long-term viability in a particular church is doubtful. He will likely experience periods of intense frustration, possibly leading him to resign and seek a congregation he hopes will be more responsive. Some of that frustration will be heard from the pulpit in increased negativity, often contributing to declining attendance.

The pulpit committee that encounters invitation monomania in a prospective pastor should not recommend him to the congregation. As a service to the prospective pastor, they should respectfully recommend that he read Kent Hughes’ Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome and then perhaps the book of Jeremiah.

Conclusion

No set of questions, whether 3 or 300, is guaranteed to expose the “novice” (1 Tim. 3:6), the “wolf” (Acts 20:29), or those not “apt to teach” (1 Tim.3:2, 2 Tim. 2:24). But these three may help.

___________

^{1. To clarify, pastors are not prophets, but they are preachers. Though the nature of their preaching is different in important ways, they have the activity of preaching in common with the prophets of old.}

Aaron Blumer, a native of lower Michigan, is a graduate of Bob Jones University (Greenville, SC) and Central Baptist Theological Seminary (Plymouth, MN). He, his wife, and their two children live in a small town in western Wisconsin where he has pastored Grace Baptist Church (Boyceville, WI) since 2000. Prior to serving as a pastor, Aaron taught school in Stone Mountain, Georgia, and served in customer service and technical support for Unisys Corporation (Eagan, MN). He enjoys science fiction, music, and dabbling in software engineering.