Questions to Ask Deacon and Elder Candidates: An Examination Guide from 1 Timothy 3

The best questions to ask deacon and elder candidates come straight from the qualifications Paul gives in 1 Timothy 3:1-13 and Titus 1:5-9, and from the choosing of the seven in Acts 6:1-6. They cover five areas: character and life, home and family, doctrine and confession, gifts and calling, and readiness for the specific office. Below are questions for each area, separate questions for elders and for deacons, a way to walk a candidate through his ordination vows, and notes on conducting the interview so it examines a man without trapping him.

Who sets the rules for the examination?

These questions are pastoral help, not a procedure. The formal requirements for examination, election and ordination come from your church's constitution or bylaws, and this guide does not replace them.

• PCA: Nominees first receive instruction in the qualifications and work of the office. Then they are examined in their Christian experience, "especially his personal character and family management," their knowledge of Bible content, of the system of doctrine, government and discipline, and of the duties of the office, and their willingness to assent to the ordination questions (BCO 24-1).
• OPC: A man is normally eligible only after a year of communicant membership, training under or approved by the session, and service in functions of responsible leadership (Form of Government 25.3). The session certifies the nominees it judges qualified "upon examination" (FG 25.4).
• Reformed Baptist: Your church's constitution governs. The 1689 London Baptist Confession names two continuing offices, elders (or bishops) and deacons (26.8), both chosen by the common vote of the church and set apart with prayer and the laying on of hands, elders also with fasting (26.9).

What does Scripture ask you to examine?

Paul's instruction about deacons applies to every officer: "And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless" (1 Timothy 3:10, ESV). The texts give you five things to test:

1. Character and life: above reproach, self-controlled, gentle, not quarrelsome, not a drunkard, not a lover of money (1 Timothy 3:2-3, 8; Titus 1:7-8).
2. Home and family: faithful in marriage and managing his household well (1 Timothy 3:4-5, 12; Titus 1:6).
3. Doctrine and confession: holding firm to the trustworthy word (Titus 1:9) and holding the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience (1 Timothy 3:9).
4. Gifts and calling: a desire for the work, not a recent convert, well thought of by outsiders, full of the Spirit and of wisdom (1 Timothy 3:1, 6-7; Acts 6:3).
5. Readiness for the office: teaching, shepherding and governing for elders; mercy, practical care and stewardship for deacons.

Do not try to ask everything. Choose two or three questions per area and keep the rest for follow-up.

Questions about character and life

1. How did you come to faith, and how has Christ been changing you over the last year?
2. Where are you most tempted, and how are you fighting that sin?
3. Who knows you well enough to tell you the truth about yourself, and when did they last do it?
4. Tell us about a recent conflict. How did it start, and how did it end?
5. What place do alcohol, money and screens have in your life right now?
6. What would your coworkers or neighbors say about you?
7. Is there anything in your life or past that, if it became known, would bring reproach on Christ and his church?

Question 7 is not a trap. Asked gently, it lets a man bring something into the light before the congregation votes.

Questions about home and family

1. How do you lead your household in Scripture and prayer?
2. If you are married, how would your wife describe the way you love her?
3. How do you encourage and correct your children, and what would they say about it?
4. How is hospitality practiced in your home (1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:8)?
5. How do you manage your household's money: giving, debt and saving?
6. What will this office cost your family in time, and have you talked about it together?

For an unmarried candidate, ask how he manages the household and responsibilities he does have.

Questions about doctrine and confession

1. Explain the gospel as you would to a neighbor who has never heard it.
2. What is justification, and how would you use that doctrine with a discouraged believer?
3. What do you believe about Scripture, and how does that belief show in the way you live?
4. Have you read the whole Confession (Westminster or 1689)? Is there any point you cannot affirm?
5. Explain from Scripture why your church baptizes as it does (WCF 28; LBCF 29).
6. Why is the church governed by elders, and how does your church make decisions and exercise discipline?

On question 4, it is far better to hear a reservation now than after ordination. Your constitution says what happens next.

Questions about gifts and calling

1. Why do you want to serve in this office, and why now (1 Timothy 3:1)?
2. Who first encouraged you to consider it?
3. Where are you already doing some of this work without the title?
4. What will you stop doing to make room for it?
5. How long have you been a believer, and a member here?
6. How would you respond if the congregation does not elect you?

The last question shows whether he wants the work or the title. A man who can hear "not now" with grace is already showing the humility the office needs.

Questions for elder candidates

Elders teach, shepherd and govern (Acts 20:28; 1 Timothy 5:17; 1 Peter 5:1-3). Titus 1:9 sets the standard: an elder holds firm to the trustworthy word "so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it."

1. Where have you taught the Bible, and what did you learn from it?
2. A member tells you she is thinking of leaving the church. What do you do in the first week?
3. How would you approach a brother caught in sin (Matthew 18:15-17; Galatians 6:1)? What is church discipline for?
4. How would you answer a member drifting toward a teaching you believe is false?
5. What does "not domineering" (1 Peter 5:3) look like in an elders' meeting?
6. How will you respond when the other elders decide against your view?

Questions for deacon candidates

In Acts 6 the seven were appointed because widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution, freeing the apostles for prayer and the ministry of the word (Acts 6:1-4). Deacons serve through mercy, practical care and stewardship.

1. Who in this congregation is most likely to be overlooked, and how would you find out?
2. Someone asks the church for help with rent. What would you want to know before deciding, and how would you protect their dignity?
3. How would you keep the church's funds accountable and above suspicion (2 Corinthians 8:20-21)?
4. What would you do with private information about a family's needs?
5. How do you understand the work of the deacons in relation to the oversight of the elders?
6. How should the church care for needy neighbors outside the congregation (Galatians 6:10)?

Walk through the ordination vows

A candidate should never hear his vows for the first time on the day he takes them. In the PCA he will answer six questions (BCO 24-6); in the OPC, five (FG 25.6). Both cover Scripture, the Confession and Catechisms, the church's government and discipline, acceptance of the office, and the purity, peace and unity of the church. Read each vow aloud, ask him to say in his own words what he is promising, then press on a few:

• The fifth PCA question asks, "Do you promise subjection to your brethren in the Lord?" (BCO 24-6). What would that look like the first time you are outvoted?
• The OPC asks him to promise "to seek the purity, the peace, and the unity of the church" (FG 25.6). What do you do when those three seem to pull against each other?
• What exactly are you affirming when you adopt the Confession and Catechisms, and what will you do if your views change?

Reformed Baptist churches use the questions or covenant in their own constitution. Walk through those the same way.

How should the interview be conducted?

• Decide who asks what. Divide the areas among the elders beforehand, so the pastor is not the only voice.
• Tell him what you will cover. The aim is to discern, not to catch him out. Give him the areas in advance and teach before you test, as the PCA builds instruction into the process (BCO 24-1).
• Listen more than you talk. Ask open questions, then follow up: "Tell us more." "What did you do next?"
• Follow up on concerns before the vote. If something troubles you, raise it with him privately and soon. "Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands" (1 Timothy 5:22). A concern left unspoken does not disappear after ordination.
• Involve spouses with care. His wife is not the candidate, so do not examine her. A conversation with her, with her husband's knowledge, helps you hear how the office will affect the home and whether she supports it.
• Give him an answer, with reasons. If the answer is "not yet," tell him what you saw and what growth you hope for, and keep shepherding him.

A next step for this week

Choose the questions you will use, assign the areas to your elders, and give each nominee the list of areas with the relevant chapter of your constitution. Before the interviews, read 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1 and Acts 6 together as elders and pray for the men by name.

If your nominees need instruction before they are examined, the church leadership training in Hokmah Expositor drafts eight foundational sessions plus four on the specific work of elders or of deacons, for you to review. It does not replace your constitution or decide who is fit for office; that stays with the church and its officers. The questions above stand on their own either way.

Sources

• Book of Church Order, Part 1, chapter 24 (BCO 24-1, 24-6), Presbyterian Church in America, amendments through the 53rd General Assembly (2026), https://www.pcaac.org/book-of-church-order/part-1-the-form-of-government/
• Form of Government, chapter XXV (sections 1, 3, 4, 6), Book of Church Order, Orthodox Presbyterian Church, 2025 edition, https://www.opc.org/BCO/FG.html
• The Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689, chapter 26, The Reformed Reader, https://reformedreader.org/ccc/1689lbc/english/Chapter26.htm