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If you are involved in pastoral hirings and interviews, you would be wise to spend some time preparing in advance some tools/instruments you can use to help keep the interview process safe and fair. These safeguards are needed because most local churches are remarkably unsophisticated in these matters. Eager search committee members or board members can ask inappropriate questions or attempt to take over the process.

If you have some tools developed beforehand, you can brief and prepare the pastor about what he or she can expect, and you can prepare the church leadership who will be interviewing the pastor to know what's appropriate and what's not appropriate to ask. It's also helpful to present the local church leadership with the process the conference will be using as a followup to any discussions you have with the local church leadership.

One potential trouble spot here is that since you are not an administrator, you may not be free to answer all the questions that may be asked. Some have found themselves in a bind because they answered on behalf of administration only to find out later that administration would not have answered in the same way. That can leave both you and the pastor in an uncomfortable position.

If you are asked to be involved in the hiring and interviewing process, be sure to have a frank conversation with your administrators about what boundaries within which you are to work, and then make sure both the prospective pastor and the local church are briefed about those same boundaries.

Being involved in pastoral placement can be a valuable place for your involvement. But be careful. It may also give the impression, at least to the pastor, that you more an administrative presence in their life rather than a pastoral one. You will need to do some work to make sure that the pastor knows that you are first and foremost their pastor and advocate.

For more detailed information on this topic, see Interviewing Best Practices and Pastoral Search Committee Process.