Discuss the Church Sermon with Your Spouse

Discuss the Church Sermon with Your Spouse to Stay Spiritually Connected

As married couples, we often look for ways to stay connected. We try to find ways to go on dates or pick up new hobbies together. We debrief about our day and current events.

But one of the ways I have found couples don’t often utilize is discussing the church sermon. It may come up in passing as the family is transitioning from church to lunch. “That was a good sermon.” or “That was hard to focus this morning.”

How often do you and your spouse more formally discuss the sermon? If you aren’t, your missing a great opportunity to spiritually connect with your spouse and together, grow in your relationships with God.

[ctt template=”9″ link=”nZ2ak” via=”no” ]Discussing the church sermon with your spouse is a great opportunity to spiritually connect with your spouse and together, grow in your relationships with God.[/ctt]

Breaking down the church sermon

Set aside a specific time to discuss the church sermon that you both are able to focus and interact without interruption and/or distraction. That likely means after everyone has had lunch or maybe even after the children are in bed.

I wouldn’t recommend waiting more than a day after church service or you might start forgetting the details about the sermon. At the end of the post you will find a free printable of church sermon notes for the entire 2018 year to help you keep track of your thoughts to discuss with your spouse.

Discussing the sermon isn’t a time to be gossiping about your fellow church members or to be overly critical of your Pastor. But it’s the ability to connect with your spouse and grow together spiritually.

The theme or focus of the sermon

This could be an easy question for some to answer as the sermon may be a part of a specific series that the Pastor has laid out. For others, the sermons may not be formally discussed as a part of a theme or series.

• What was the main point?
• Were there clearly defined sub-points or supporting information?
• What was the pastor trying to teach and/or convey?
• How do you know?
• How did the current sermon fit in with last week’s sermon?

The bible verses used

Again, this could be an easy question depending upon the layout of the sermon. Your Pastor could be working through a specific book of the bible or focused verses.

One area to focus on is what translation your Pastor uses and how other translations are worded in comparison.

For example, our Pastor tends to use New Living Translation (NLT) during sermons however my husband and I both have New International Version (NIV) study bibles. I also use a New King James Version (NKJV) journal bible. We will look up the bible verses in our bibles to see how the translations differ and if that helps, supports, and/or changes our thoughts and views of the sermon.

• What bible verses were of focus for the church sermon
• Were supporting verses used?
• Are there other verses that the sermon made you think of?
• What translation does your Pastor use?
• Look up the verses in other translations. biblegateway.com has a great tool to show side-by-side translations of selected verses.
• How do other translations help or hinder your understanding of the sermon?
• Are there key word differences in the differing translations? This is where my husband and I geek out and grab the concordance to better understand the word meanings and history.

Questions pertaining to the sermon

This question allows for some vulnerability but may bring up some insecurities. It’s important to share your lack of understanding or questions with your spouse so that you can grow as a Christian and you can grow together.

• Was there an aspect of the sermon that you didn’t understand?
• Is the question related to the bible verse used or how your Pastor used the verse to support an idea?
• Is the question a larger topic related to a Christian principle?

How the sermon is relevant to your daily life?

A great sermon utilizes biblical text to help you understand the importance and relevance of the bible into your daily life. There are some Pastors who do this amazing and you walk away with almost a “Duh, why haven’t I ever thought of that?” experience because they bring the verses to practical understanding.

• Did your Pastor point out practical and relevant steps for daily life?
• Are these steps you are already doing?
• Do you agree with these steps? If no, why not?
• What are actionable areas for you to implement?

How can you encourage each other to live out the sermon?

This leads us to that last step in discussing the church sermon with your spouse. This is the opportunity to encourage and support each other in becoming stronger Christians and growing our relationship with God.

• What goal(s) do you want to achieve for the week?
• What do you think could hinder you from your goal(s)?
• How would you like your spouse to support your goal(s)?

Print the Sermon Notes template for the entire year of 2018!

Sermon Notes 2018

 

I pray that this post encourages you and your spouse to discuss the church sermon to strengthen your marriage in one more way while staying spiritually connected.

God bless!

Melissa