Here at JustChurchJobs, we know the value that the youth pastor of a church brings to the table. Building up the youth of the church and equipping them with the necessary tools to build their faith is essential and raising up generation after generation of Christ followers. Just to refresh your brains, the role of the youth pastor is to be actively engaged and involved with the youth of the church with the creation of and execution of sermon teachings for the students while maintaining a fun and creative atmosphere for the youth.
As we mentioned the youth pastor is an essential role within the church and one designed to raise up the youth to be the next generation of Christ followers and as such, during the interview process, questions should be asked with this in mind. We at JustChurchJobs want to help you find the right candidate to fill your youth pastor role and with that we want to provide you what we think are the best interview questions to ask to find a quality candidate! So, let’s get started then, shall we?
What is your testimony?
We at JustChurchJobs stand by the fact that this interview question is the first and foremost question that you should ask. A candidate who is not willing to share their testimony and how they came to know Jesus should not be in a pastoral leadership position. Any pastoral leadership position requires vulnerability and a desire to share how the gospel has transformed them. A youth pastor will be directly involved with the youth of the church and their testimony may be a great tool to open ways to share the gospel to the youth.
Do you have a desire to work with students?
This is of course an important question to ask any of your candidates. If they do not have a desire to work with students, then their heart is in the wrong place. Any candidate that is applying for the youth pastor role and doesn’t have the desire to work with students is just an oxymoron.
How would you engage with a shy student who doesn’t interact with the rest of the youth?
Think back to anu youth group that you have been in before, there is always one student who is shy and doesn’t talk or try to interact with the other students. It can always be hard to coax these students out of their shell and the candidate should know a good strategy to get these students involved with the rest of the youth.
What is your view on mentorship? Can you describe some of the mentors you’ve had, if any, in your life?
Mentorship is a crucial part of any pastoral position as any pastoral position needs someone who can lead them through the things they will face. However, mentorship is even more important for the role of the youth pastor as in a lot of cases, the youth pastor is the mentor to several students, and they need to be able to properly lead and disciple them.
How would you handle a discrepancy with the parent of a child?
The role of the youth pastor works not only with the students, but they also work very closely with the students of the parents. As such the candidate would need to know how to deescalate tense situations that will arise with the parents of the students.
What are some ways that you would reach the youth in the surrounding community?
The candidate should have the drive to not only disciple and lead the current students of the church but should always be looking for opportunities to reach out to the surrounding community of the church to be pulling more of the youth in to teach them about Jesus and spread the gospel.
Can you give some ideas of some events that you would hold for the youth?
This is an important question to ask because this more situational question helps to gauge a candidates creativity in how they plan events and their drive to get the students involved with each other in Biblical and spiritual community. This question also helps to determine their leadership style and how they approach leading youth.
What are your three biggest strengths and weaknesses?
Now this may sound like a stereotypical interview question, but it truly is an important one to ask a potential candidate. This question gets them thinking about the things they do well and the things that they do poorly and then they relay to you. It’s good to keep these strengths and weaknesses in mind because not only does it allow for you to see if they would be a good fit leadership wise, but it also gives you a sort of benchmark to work with them to improve upon their strengths and work on their weaknesses.
We at JustChurchJobs hope that this list of interview questions specifically tailored for finding a youth pastor is helpful in your search for the right candidate and we want you to know that we are here to help every step of the way. If you’re even struggling to find good quality candidates for the positions you need filled, we can help with that too! JustChurchJobs is here to serve in any way that we can!
