• Many of you want your conversations after church to go beyond ‘the weather and the footy’, and that’s good. Of course, it is natural people talk about the weather, and football (or whatever sport or hobby/interest you have). But how can we also talk about Jesus? So, what can you say? Here are some ideas —
  • Comment about a song we’ve just sung — how you love X song/hymn. You could comment on the tune or some of the words, and how they impact you.
  • Comment about something in a prayer — how the words or theme resonated with you. Or how praying for X was a good reminder to you to pray about that during the week.
  • Comment about how you’re very glad to see that person again. Ask them how something in this past week they previously told you about went. Ask them what’s coming up this week. You could pray about that there and then. But, if you don’t feel confident to do that, tell them that you will pray about it when you get home (& then make sure that you do!). Then, the following Sunday (or during the week), ask them how it went, telling them that you prayed for them.
  • Ask them what stands out for you from that passage, or passages? Make a comment about something which you love, or now understand, or were surprised about. You could ask them if there’s anything in that passage which surprises them, or they love.
  • To go a bit deeper, you can say what you find hard to understand, or hard to live out in that passage. You could say that X is a bit of a correction to you. You could then ask them if there is any part of the passage they find harder to understand or live out. You could mention how someone else lives out these verses, as a good example to you both.
  • Many people love to talk about illustrations in sermons — that’s good, but as well as talking about the ‘story’, talk about the point that it illustrates.
  • You can talk about what you found helpful in the sermon, more generally— it could be the Outline that helps you remember the passage, or how to live it out; it could be a memorable way the preacher said something; it could be their exhortation to apply a certain part of the passage.
  • Whatever you talk about, we should at least mention the main point of the passage &/or sermon. Better is to talk about it for longer. It’s amazing how many times we don’t actually talk the main point …
  • So, I hope these few ideas help you to talk about, dwell in and live out God’s word — yourself and others in our church.

Cameron