We all know that pastors are wonderful people. They care deeply about their congregations; they perform the sacred task of giving last rites to those who are on their deathbed; and they give generously to charity. Chances are if you live in or around a church or within 50 miles of a seminary, you’ve heard some funny stories told by pastors and some jokes made at the expense of religious leaders (not all but some).
If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to have a conversation with a pastor, here’s your chance! Whether you want to test your pastor’s bible knowledge, break the ice or simply have a fun time, there are plenty of funny questions you can ask your pastor. These Funny Questions To Ask A Pastor can be based on Bible trivia, life, or the pastor’s work. Though they are meant to be funny, the answers can give you insight into the Bible, God or the ministry. Below are 10 suggestions. Feel free to add your own.
Fun Questions To Ask Your Church Leadership Team
- Describe the aspect of the ministry that you least enjoy.
A common misconception is that pastors like all they do, including giving sermons, visiting homes, and conducting funerals and weddings.
But many pastors experience their ministry in the same way that you may love and loathe some aspects of your work or business.
Not everything is sunshine and roses. A lot of pastors are more than happy to talk about aspects of their jobs they don’t particularly appreciate.
For example, a lot of pastors detest it when members of their congregation blatantly disregard their counsel. Others dislike interacting with certain challenging or combative family members.
Additionally, some people might prefer to perform a burial service than a wedding.
- HAS THERE EVER BEEN A COMPLAINT REGARDING YOUR SERMONS?
It would be especially helpful to know whether anyone has ever expressed dissatisfaction over the length or timing of the sermons.
The kinds of grievances that members of the congregation make to their pastors about the sermon may surprise you. Some will also remark that it was too long or too short, dull, too fiery, or not concentrated enough on a particular issue.
You can learn more about your pastor’s sermon preparation process by asking them this question.
Among the intriguing follow-up queries are: Where do you find inspiration? Before drafting a sermon, do you say a prayer? Do you commit your sermons to memory? If someone sleeps through your sermon, does it bother you?
- WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU WERE NOT A PASTOR?
For pastors who work full-time in their ministry, this is an excellent question. What else would they do if it weren’t their regular job?
Pastors will often claim that they will continue to serve in the ministry, but in a different capacity, such as deacon.
Some people may have distinct interests and vocations that they have always considered, such as farming or medicine.
For others, it’s likely unimaginable for them to not be a pastor. Since they were small children, they have always known that they wanted to enter the ministry.
- WHOM DO YOU WANT TO MEET FACE-TO-FACE IN THE BIBLE?
It’s probably a good idea to amend this question to include “excluding Jesus.” “Jesus” is probably what most pastors and Christians will automatically respond with.
Who wouldn’t want to meet and hear from Jesus in person?
Your pastor’s response probably reveals a lot about the Bible heroes they find most inspiring.
You may also follow up by asking them who they wouldn’t want to meet in the Bible. In my opinion, I would prefer not to meet Haman, one of the Bible’s most heinous villains, who schemed to exterminate every Jew (Book of Esther).
How does a pastor’s marriage look?
What aspect of serving as a pastor and doing God’s mission is the most difficult?
Yes, as everyone is aware, the Bible has had a significant influence on your life as a pastor. What other book, save the Bible, has had a beneficial influence on your life?
How did you come to know God? And how did you find out that being a pastor was your calling?
Do you enjoy your role as a pastor?
Would you go down a different route if you could?
What have been the most significant errors you have made since entering the ministry as a pastor?
Funny Questions To Ask A Pastor
As you can see, it’s easy to make a pastor laugh. What are some of your favorite funny questions to ask a pastor? Let us know in the comments below!
- Have you ever fallen unconscious after being touched? I didn’t. Just curious as to how it is.
- Why can’t sister so and so, who, well, can’t pronounce words correctly, read the announcements instead of the best reader?
Have you ever been approached to buy Mary Kay goods during video announcements? I experienced it.
- Has anyone else’s church bulletin used the abbreviation B.S. for Bible Study? There’s something strange about that.
- Following praise and worship, where do the band members go? For instance, why do I never see them seated in the pews? Do they have a break or something?
- Why is the same member’s child chosen to direct the children’s choir?
- Is it appropriate to escort late-arriving celebrities to the front row?
- Have megachurches reached their peak?
- What do you say when someone says, “The Lord told me to tell you?”
- Does anyone else feel frustrated when they invite someone to church only to learn that the pastor is out of town and that the person reading the church announcements will be taking the podium instead? You anticipate a lengthy day at church and the likelihood that your friend won’t pay you another visit.
Deep Questions To Ask Your Pastor
Do you ever find yourself wishing you could ask your pastor a question but are too afraid of offending him? Don’t be embarrassed. We’ve all been there. That’s why we created this list of questions to ask the lead minister at your church. They’re the perfect balance of religious and silly, so you can feel empowered to speak your truth without being too off-the-wall.
HAS ANYONE EVER COMPLAINED ABOUT YOUR SERMONS?
In particular, it would be nice to know if anyone has ever complained that the sermons are too long or too short.
You might be surprised at the kinds of complaints congregants bring to pastors regarding the sermon. In addition to it being too long or too short, others will complain it was boring, too fiery, or not focused enough on a certain aspect.
This question is an opportunity to find out how your pastor goes about crafting his sermons.
Some interesting follow-up questions include: Where do you get inspiration from? Do you pray before you write a sermon? Do you memorize what you are going to preach? Do you feel bad if people sleep through your sermon?
Who is your favorite Biblical character and why?
You should ask this question because pastors love talking about Jesus. He is the most important person in the Bible and one of the most important people of all time. If you want to make their day, ask them who their favorite biblical character is! And if you want to get technical, Jesus is also the most important person in history, which makes him pretty much the most important person ever.
Jesus loves everyone so much that he died for us on a cross thousands of years ago—and even though he’s dead now, he still lives! His death makes it possible for you to go to heaven when you die. If you don’t know Jesus yet or have never asked him into your heart, then please ask him now while I’m still here reading this article out loud (by myself). Ask any pastor if they would like a copy of my book, “101 Ways To Know You’re Going To Heaven!”
WHAT’S YOUR LEAST FAVORITE PART OF THE MINISTRY?
Many of us assume that pastors love everything that they do, from preaching to home visits and officiating weddings and funerals.
But the same way there are aspects you love and hate about your job or business, so do many pastors experience their ministry.
It’s not all roses. Many pastors are more than willing to discuss the areas of their work they don’t enjoy that much.
For instance, many pastors hate it when congregants willfully ignore their advice or guidance. Others have certain difficult or confrontational members they don’t like dealing with.
And there are those who’d rather officiate a funeral than a wedding.
Asking questions is the best way to learn.
- Asking questions is the best way to learn.
- Asking questions helps you understand the world around you.
- Asking questions helps you understand yourself and other people better, too.
- Questions help us understand the world’s challenges and problems, too!
How Well Do You Know Your Pastor Questions
- What is one great thing about your week?
- What was one difficult thing about your week?
- Who is an inspirational person in your life?
- What are you learning about yourself lately?
- What’s one thing you are looking forward to this month?
- If you could go somewhere to get away, where would you go?
- If you could change one thing in your life right now, what would it be?
- What’s one time when you knew God was working in your life?
- How can I pray for you this week?
- What is the hardest thing about this season of your life?
- How do you stay connected to God throughout the week?
- What could you do to connect with God more?
- What has God has been teaching you lately?
- What’s one thing that makes you anxious?
- What is a favorite memory from your childhood?
- What’s the biggest struggle in your life right now?
- What do you do in your free time?
- Who are you closest to in your family?
- Where do go where you feel the most at peace?
- If you had the whole weekend off, what would you do?
- What is your dream job?
- What’s one cause or injustice in the world you wish you could fix?
- How many places have you lived throughout your life?
- When did you first know there was a God?
- When in your life did you feel closest to God?
- What makes you feel most connected to God?
- How do you balance all the priorities in your life?
- When have you felt the farthest away from God?
- What is one thing you’ve done that you are really proud of?
- What’s one goal you set that you achieved – even if it was in childhood?
- What are the qualities you appreciate in your closest friends?
- Where are you most aware of God’s presence? (in nature, with people, in quiet, etc.)
- What is your dream vacation?
Hardest Questions To Ask A Pastor
In some professions, questions about love and life just come with the territory. Hairdressers and cab drivers spend a lot of time listening. So do United Methodist pastors, who often get questions after worship on a Sunday morning, from a phone call on a Tuesday afternoon, or across the table at a church dinner. Some queries are straightforward, but others are far more difficult to address. And, unlike the hairdresser and the cabbie, pastors and their congregants may feel like a clergyperson should have clear answers and advice.
To explore this topic more thoroughly, we asked a group of United Methodist pastors to share the five most challenging questions they receive.
The Rev. Dennis Crump teaches at Lindsey Wilson College and is a United Methodist pastor in Kentucky. Photo courtesy of the Rev. Dennis Crump.
5. Out of the mouths of babes
Some of the toughest questions pastors receive come from the youngest members of their congregations.
The Rev. Dennis Crump, adjunct faculty member at Lindsey Wilson College and a United Methodist pastor in Kentucky, tells us his then 8-year-old son asked, “Can the devil get saved?”
Having a conversation about possible limitations to the grace of God with a child might seem daunting.
“After a few pensive moments and some discussion,” Crump shared, “We concluded that [the devil] probably cannot get saved in the same way that we can because he has no capacity for saving faith. … However, in the mind of God, there may yet be a way?”
4. Right or wrong?
Speaking of God’s grace, pastors are sometimes asked about offering grace toward those with whom we disagree. Topics in the news generate questions about responding to those with a different point of view.
The Rev. Mark Walus, a bi-vocational pastor of Monroeville (Indiana) United Methodist Church and a computer consultant, shared the story of an older teen who approached him after worship and asked: “My friend from school is gay. What should I do?”
Pastor Mark shared a quick message of grace and love, and then invited this youth to come for a deeper conversation than was possible at the door of the church.
The Rev. Lilla Lakatos is a pastor in Hungary. She says, “A good question can help much more than a good answer.” Photo courtesy of The Rev. Lilla Lakatos.
3. How can we …?
Those larger issues are often on the minds of congregants.
The Rev. Greg Milinovich, pastor of Catawissa Avenue United Methodist Church in Sunbury, Pennsylvania, says, “The hardest questions I get as a pastor are the practical how-to questions in which people are looking for easy program solutions to what are often societal, cultural, and relational problems.”
When someone asks, “How can we better reach the troubled youth in our neighborhood?” he confesses he doesn’t have an answer. Pastor Greg is getting more comfortable saying, “I don’t know,” because it offers an opportunity for the pastor and congregant to explore solutions together.
The Rev. Lilla Lakatos, who has pastored in Óbuda, Dombóvár, Szeged, and Alsózsolca, Hungary added, “I have the strong conviction that we don’t need to answer all the questions. A good question can help much more than a good answer.”
2. Unasked questions
Sometimes there are questions that pastors wish they were asked.
A member of another church once asked the Rev. Sharon Harris, the pastor of the Hopewell, Pine Grove, and Kinder First United Methodist Churches in Louisiana, “Why does my pastor preach that [Christians who do certain things are] going to hell even though they were “once saved, always saved?”
Pastors would rather not talk about the ministries of others but instead seize the opportunity to talk about United Methodist distinctives such as sanctification, the process of growing toward Christian perfection.
The Rev. Darryl Stephens, an adjunct professor at Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary, is glad when questions like this surface.
“I think some of the hardest questions,” Stephens continues, “are the ones pastors never get. For example, countering the rampant culture of ‘everything happens for a reason’ mentality that skips over the really difficult questions of theodicy,” the seminary word for why bad things happen to good people,.
Which leads us to the question pastors almost universally agree is the most difficult one…
1. Why?
The Rev. John Partridge, pastor at Trinity United Methodist Church of Perry Heights in Ohio, was asked, “Why do people die young?” after an untimely death in his congregation.
The Rev. Carl Chamberlain, pastor and resident theologian at Amsterdam United Methodist Church in New York and a former spiritual care coordinator for hospice and palliative care, said the hardest questions he receives are ones like, “Why does God allow cancer, poverty, hunger, war, natural disaster, or any of the other evils we experience?”
The Rev. Bev Hall is a pastor in Ohio. She recalls once performing a funeral for a mother and child who died during childbirth, and the husband and father asked her, “Why would God do this to my family?” Photo courtesy of the Rev. Bev Hall.
Pastor Lakatos of Hungary was asked why God wasn’t answering a couple’s prayers for jobs.
The husband and father of a mother and child who died during childbirth asked the Rev. Bev Hall, the pastor of Pleasant Hills United Methodist Church in Ohio, “Why would God do this to my family?”
The Rev. Stefan Pfister, a 20-year-veteran of pastoral ministry currently serving in Davos, Switzerland, and a mentor to young pastors in Cambodia, sums it up well.
“The ‘why question’ is probably the most difficult one,” he reports. While he longs for the proper response, he has become more comfortable saying he does not know.
While ministering to a family after a suicide, Pfister says, “I tried to answer some questions, although I know that all my explanations were just a small part of the whole reality. And this made me realize: There are no easy answers to tough questions. Many things I simply do not know. I only know a very small piece of a big picture.”