What Should a Worship Pastor Evaluate Before Applying at a Church?

Applying and hiring for pastoral positions of any kind can be an overwhelming and emotionally draining experience. To a degree, it should be. Allow me to explain. In the vast majority of the working world, a company or organization can simply evaluate an applicant based on very objective metrics, such as one’s education and work experience. In other words, one’s competency to “do the job” is the only critical metric. The company may want long-term commitment or have other peripheral requirements, but again these are objective criteria and pertain purely to “the job.”

Likewise, an applicant looking for a secular position can evaluate the position and company/organization in a fairly objective way as well. Does the position align with the applicant’s competencies, interests, compensation needs, advancement desires, scheduling and location needs, etc.? Again, all objective metrics (Can I “do the job” and does it meet my needs?). The one subjective metric an applicant may have to evaluate is whether the industry and/or company/organization aligns with his or her personal values (Should I take this job?).

However, while applying and hiring for pastoral positions include evaluating for most, if not all, of these metrics I’ve already mentioned, there are several more layers that must be scrutinized by both the applying pastor and hiring church, making it far more than simply a “job”. Or, at least, they should be. This is because to join a church is to join a family, not merely an organization (John 13:34-35; Romans 12:10). A local church is comprised of brothers and sisters in Christ, not employers and employees, or even merely staff and volunteers (Luke 8:21). Moreover, a pastor is a called, designated caretaker and protector of that given local body. A pastor is not only a member, but also a leader and shepherd of a family of God.

Therefore, in addition to evaluating for the objective metrics I stated above, pastoral positions include evaluating theological beliefs, philosophy of ministry, family values and health, spousal support, emotional intelligence, and of course character. In other words, the metrics being evaluated go far deeper and get far more personal than competency. This also must go both ways between the hiring church and the pastoral applicant. Simply put, a pastoral applicant and hiring church must be completely honest and transparent with one another, aim to truly get to know each other, about pretty much all facets of life, in a relatively minuscule timeframe. This is because, for better or worse, in the life of a church all of those facets become visible eventually. Neither the church, nor the pastor, are loved or well-served by there being anything glossed over or kept hidden. Going back to the beginning, this is why applying and hiring for pastoral positions is so emotionally draining.

I know all of this because I’ve lived it. For about a year from 2017 to 2018, I applied for many pastoral positions and went deeply through the process (interviews, visits, etc.) with over a dozen churches. It was an extremely difficult, taxing year. However, I learned in that crucible of job hunting several tips to make it easier to know when it may be worth going through that process, and when it wouldn’t.

My first piece of advice to the applying worship pastor, though, is a bit more foundational: understand your role rightly. By rightly, I mean biblically. Any pastor (which, biblically, is synonymous with the term “elder”) is a shepherd (1 Peter 5:1-2). Therefore, the worship pastor is also a shepherd, just more specifically in regard to how that local church worships the Lord in their weekly worship service, typically being chiefly in charge of the music that is played, and therefore sung by the congregation, as well as potentially crafting the overall service as well. The reason I say this is over the eleven years I have been a worship pastor (for three of those years I was, functionally, both a worship and lead pastor), a pattern I have observed among many worship pastors/leaders is that they view themselves chiefly as a musician or band leader versus a pastor/shepherd.

Regardless of what a hiring church may communicate, your role is determined first and foremost by the Bible. As the one in charge of curating the music that people sing each week, you are a functional teacher of the flock! Worship music is sung theology, and often better remembered than even the sermons preached, especially by the children in the church. You are therefore responsible for not only the quality of musicianship, but far more importantly the content being sung, and thus affirmed by you, your other leaders, and ultimately your congregation (Colossians 3:16). Your role is biblically more significant and far more sobering than that of a mere musician. You are a teacher, feeding the flock with the songs that you lead, for better or worse (James 3:1). Understand your role rightly.

You may be thinking at this point, “This philosophy lesson is all well and good, Brandon, but I thought you were going to give me some things I can actually do as I am searching church positions so I’m not wasting my time and energy applying everywhere.” Well that’s exactly where we’re going right now…

There are several steps you can take before officially applying for a worship pastor role. Assuming you have read the job post already and see a potential fit, the next step, and probably the most obvious, is to check out the church’s website. It can give you a feel for the church’s culture and overall health at a glance. Is the church well-established or a younger plant? Does it have a vision and/or mission statement to evaluate? Does the church make the effort to keep the look and information of the site current? How many different ministries do they promote on their site? More is not always better, it is simply information. It tells you something about the church and how it operates.

Of critical importance is to check out any page that communicates the church’s beliefs (i.e. a Statement of Faith) and to read it thoroughly. Be a Berean and check references if they are given (Acts 17:10-15). Theological alignment is crucial. Having said that, there are three different tiers of doctrine and explaining the tiers is beyond the scope of this article so I would have you read this one if this is an unfamiliar concept to you. It should be a helpful framework to categorize your own beliefs as well as evaluating your theological alignment with a potential hiring church. If the church does not have any beliefs published, it would be a bit of a red flag for me. But if there are no other warning signs, simply ask the church for a statement of faith…then maybe recommend that they put it on their website.

The next webpage I would say is crucial to check out is one that lists out the leaders and staff. I want to understand their leadership structure, how many staff the church has and how siloed their positions are, and then any information I can get on the pastors and elders (if the church separates these offices, mine does not). Especially the lead pastor, who would likely be your supervisor and the one with whom you would work the closest. Ideally the page tells you his background, education, and something about his personal life. This information can give you at least some sense of potential alignment and/or chemistry. As far as what good chemistry would look like, that is up to you. Would you want an older, more seasoned lead pastor in a different season of life, but who could provide some mentorship? Or are you looking more for a potential peer-like relationship? A picture and some words on a webpage cannot guarantee any of these outcomes, but it gives you a direction. As with all of this, wisdom is required.

Again, if the church does not have a leadership webpage, that gets a red flag from me because that information tells me so much about the church in a succinct way. However, like the Statement of Faith, the church may have a legitimate reason for not having it published at this time. You can always reach out and ask questions that get you similar information. For my part, when in a hiring phase I like it when potential applicants reach out with questions, because it communicates thoughtfulness and intentionality.

If after thoroughly checking out the website you feel good about moving forward, the next step I would have you take is to evaluate a regular worship service. If you live in the area, ideally you would visit in person! This will give you the most thorough sense of the church and especially your potential role in it, at least on a Sunday morning. You could also meet the pastor(s) and other leader(s) and introduce yourself, though this is optional depending on how serious you are about the position at this time.

The next best options are a livestream or recorded video of the service, if available. If nothing else, listen intently to a couple recorded sermons to ensure the preaching is biblical (Acts 17:10-15). Then if there are no issues with the sermons, you could reach out and request the church to record a video of their service, including the musical worship, so that you can get a sense of it and whether it would be a good fit. You can communicate that this would be a good thing for them to have on hand anyway for potential applicants who are out of town.

Likewise, planning ahead and having a video of yourself leading musical worship in your church is always a good idea and is often a must for churches from their applicants. This can be difficult depending on your situation, but if you apply and the church needs this material, just be honest and strategize together how to best get them what they’re looking for.

Lastly, there are myriad questions you could personally ask the hiring church to help flesh out the nature of the position beyond what was written in the position description. This of course depends on how detailed the position description is, which in my experience varies wildly. But here is a brief list of valid questions you could ask:

1. Compensation (if not included in the post) - What is the expected salary range of the position? Are there any included benefits?

2. Can I see a list of the songs you currently play? What is the instrumentation breakdown of the current Music/Worship Team (i.e. how many vocalists, drummers, etc.)?

3. Would I eventually be given opportunity to preach, given some evaluation? Could I aspire to the office of elder (if not automatic with the position)? Would there be other opportunities/expectations for ministry leadership beyond music/the worship service?

4. What is the scope of my authority? Do I choose the songs for the church? If I have an idea I’d like to try, what would that decision-making process look like? Where do I fit in the leadership structure of the church?

This is just a sampling of questions that I’ve asked or wished I would’ve asked when I was applying for positions in the past. There are probably many others you could think of or nuance the ones I wrote to suit your purposes. In my experience, sometimes churches can get a bit testy about emails of questions, often because they feel they don’t have the time to fielding questions from someone who may not apply. So as a precaution, I would first send an email expressing your interest in the position and asking whether it would be ok to follow up with some questions about the position, and wait for a reply. Often churches can be quite slow in their responses and hiring processes so be patient!

If after doing all of this you still feel good about applying for the position, then go for it! If you are simply unsure, you could go either way, then I would still say go for it! My last piece of advice is to remember that the Lord is sovereign and His will is perfect and undeterred. The Lord may call you to a church that you did not expect, one that does not tick all of your boxes, one that may even be very unhealthy, to grow you and to help that church. Do not close a door until the Lord closes it for you or He makes it abundantly clear that it is not right for you. Pray for His leading, pray for His guidance, pray for wisdom. Saturate the process in prayer (1 Thess. 5:17).

May the Lord lead you to the church body in which He wants you, and may He equip you for the work as a worship pastor that this church body requires. Amen.