Pastoral Candidate Questionnaire
This is a Pastoral Questionnaire to aid the local church in examining and interviewing a candidate for pastoral ministry. (You can alter it to suit your own situation.) Answers to the following questions should be written out by the candidate, and forwarded to the church well in advance of a personal interview.
Pastoral Candidate Questionnaire
☼ If you have a formal resume, please forward a copy to us. Then you will only need to address the questions which are not covered in it.
☼ Please enclose a recent picture of yourself and (if possible) of your family.
Personal Information
1. Your Name
2. Address / Home Phone / FAX Line / E-mail Address
3. Place of Birth / Date of Birth
4. Rate your health as one of the following–excellent, good, fair, poor–and comment on the reason for your choice, as necessary.
5. List any special hobbies or interests you have, or recreational activities you enjoy.
6. Please give a brief personal testimony regarding your conversion and other significant milestones in your spiritual life.
Family Information
7. Are you married? If yes, have you or your wife ever been divorced?
8. (If applicable) Wife’s Name / Date of Birth
9. Please list the names and ages of each of your children living at home. For any living on their own, give their names and note where they are located.
10. Describe your wife’s training, work experience, and ministry experience.
11. What is your expectation as far as the amount and type of involvement of your wife in the church?
Education & Training
(Answer the following unless you have provided a resume which contains the information.)
12. Describe all post-secondary education–list each institution, graduation date, degree or diploma earned, and any degree program in progress. List any area(s) of specialization, or special studies taken.
13. Other than pastoral ministry, list any work experience you believe might be relevant to effective ministry (e.g. involving working with people, administrative skills, etc.).
14. List some books have you read in the past six months (either for personal development, leisure, or related to work)? What secular and religious periodicals do you subscribe to, or read with some regularity?
Pastoral Experience
(Answer the following unless you have provided a resume which contains the information.)
15. Present pastorate (or other occupation)
16. Length of service in present location
17. Denominational affiliation (if in ministry)
18. Why have you decided to leave your present situation?
19. List each of the churches in which you have pastored (or had other ministry involvement). Note the type of service, and length of service in each, and the denominational affiliation of the church.
Ministerial Standing & Beliefs
20. Place of your current church membership
21. Give date(s) and indicate by what body you were licensed to preach, and ordained.
22. Do you attend and support denominational meetings and conferences?
23. Have you ever been a member of any other denomination’s ministerial association? If so, give the name and connection.
24. Briefly tell what you know about [our denomination] and what particularly impresses you about it?
25. Have you previously served in [our denomination] in any way? (If so, how?)
26. Having read the [denominational / church] doctrinal statement, please state whether you are in full agreement with it. (If you have reservations, please explain them.)
27. Please write a short statement of your convictions on the following subjects (unless the item is covered by your resume, or the doctrinal statement referred to in #26).
a) Aspects of the believer’s sanctification (separation)
b) The eternal security of the believer
c) Charismatic doctrine and practice (including brief comments on tongues, healing, and the “Vineyard Movement”)
d) The distinction between Israel and the church
e) Eschatology (Include a comment on your position regarding the church and the Tribulation.)
f) Local church government
g) The role of women in the church
h) Church music (basic principles, and limits of acceptability)
i) Divorce and remarriage (Would you be willing to marry someone who has been divorced? Under what circumstances?)
j) Would you marry a Christian and a non-Christian? (If so, under what circumstances?)
k) Involvement of the pastor in the local ministerial (assuming that it includes not only evangelicals but liberals, Catholics and so on)
Pastoral Ministry
28. Describe your call to the ministry.
29. Provide a brief statement of your philosophy of ministry.
30. With an understanding of your training and gifts, and judging from past experience, which of the following would you expect to receive special emphasis in your ministry, and which would likely receive less emphasis? (Rate using 1 to 5, with “1” indicating the highest priority.) Comment on your choices if you wish.
( ) Preaching/teaching
( ) Leading Public Worship
( ) Children’s Work
( ) Youth Work
( ) Seniors’ Work
( ) Men’s Work
( ) Pastoral Care & Visitation
( ) Counselling
( ) Organization & Administration
( ) Church Music
( ) Leadership/Teacher Training
( ) Church Growth & Promotion
( ) Social Action
( ) Missions Promotion
( ) Evangelism
( ) Community Service
( ) Church-generated Welfare
( ) Other?
Note: It is recognized that no one will do all of these things equally well, or devote equal time to them. Our concern is simply to discover whether your particular gifts and priorities would suit the present needs of our congregation.
31. Describe your most common preaching style(s) (expository, textual, topical), your use of overheads and hand-outs, the usual length of your sermons. Give some examples of typical messages or series you have preached–book studies, character studies, topics, etc. How much time would you normally spend in the preparation of a half-hour message?
32. What Bible version do you customarily use for preaching and teaching? What is your view regarding the place of other versions?
33. Describe your routine and practice with regard to pastoral visitation. What involvement in this would you expect from church board members or others?
34. If you had a choice, what kind of church setting is your preference–urban, suburban, rural, industrial community, college community, etc.?
35. What is your view with regard to pastoral tenure? (I.e. Generally speaking, how long should a pastor stay in one location to be most effective?)
36. What do you believe are the strongest and weakest aspects of your ministry? (Explain.)
37. Describe the position you are seeking, or the role you see yourself filling most effectively. (In other words, write a basic job description for yourself, roughly allocating percentages of your time to the major items.)
38. Please list the names, addresses and phone numbers of at least three people who could give an evaluation of your character and ministry skills. (Include at least one pastor.)
Pastoral Support & Housing
39. Approximately what financial support per month do you feel you need to maintain your family?
40. What is your expectation regarding other benefits–housing, car allowance, book allowance, continuing education allowance, insurance, pension etc.?
41. What is your expectation regarding regular office hours, days off and an annual vacation?
42. Would you be willing, if necessary, to partially support yourself with some other source of income?
43. Do you anticipate that your wife will be working outside the home? (Part-time or full-time?)
44. Are you currently in debt? If so, by what amount?
45. Will you be purchasing your own home? (If applicable) how many bedrooms would you require in a parsonage?
☼ It is understood that returning this questionnaire does not obligate either the church or you. The information will be handled with discretion by the search committee. Should the church decide to pursue the matter further, you will hear from us as soon as possible. Thank you for your help. Your responses will provide a basis for any further discussion with you.