How to Structure Your First Meeting With a Pastoral Candidate

The first interview with a pastoral candidate sets the tone for everything that follows. Done well, it opens a genuine conversation, builds mutual trust, and surfaces the information your committee needs to evaluate fit. Done poorly, it is either an interrogation that intimidates good candidates or a casual conversation that produces no useful information.

Here is how to structure a first interview that actually serves the search.

Before the Interview: Agree on What You Are Trying to Learn

The most important preparation for a candidate interview happens before the candidate joins the call. Your committee needs to agree in advance on what you most need to learn in this first conversation. What are your highest-priority questions? What information would most change how you view this candidate? What does a successful first interview look like? Without this alignment, committees end up asking random questions and leaving without a clear shared impression.

Open With Context, Not Questions

Begin by giving the candidate a clear, honest picture of where your church is and why you are in a search. Most committees open immediately with questions, which puts the candidate on the defensive before the conversation has a chance to breathe. Spend the first ten minutes describing your church — its history, its current season, the kind of leader you are praying for, and what the search process will look like. This signals respect, builds trust, and helps the candidate give you more relevant answers.

Theology First

Theological alignment is the foundation of a good pastoral fit. If a candidate's theological convictions are incompatible with your church's commitments, nothing else matters. Cover theology early — not as an interrogation, but as a genuine conversation. Ask the candidate to walk you through his views on Scripture, salvation, the church, and whatever areas are most significant for your church's convictions. Listen not just for the right answers but for conviction, clarity, and the ability to articulate what he believes and why.

Ask About His Current Ministry

A candidate's current ministry context tells you more about him than almost anything else. Ask what he is most proud of in his current role, what has been most difficult, what he would do differently, and why he is open to a new opportunity. The answers reveal his self-awareness, his resilience, his honesty, and the health of his relationships in his current context.

Give the Candidate Room to Ask Questions

A strong candidate will have thoughtful questions for your committee. The quality of his questions tells you a great deal about his ministry philosophy, his leadership instincts, and his seriousness about the opportunity. Reserve significant time — at least fifteen to twenty minutes — for his questions. A candidate who has no questions, or whose questions are only about salary and benefits, is telling you something important.

Close With Clear Next Steps

Before the conversation ends, tell the candidate exactly what happens next and when he can expect to hear from you. Candidates are evaluating your church as you evaluate them. A committee that communicates clearly and follows through promptly signals organizational health and genuine respect.