This is an interesting reflection – from the point of view of a spouse.
I think that it would be a useful question to ask from the point of view of pastor as well. How many of the pastors who read this blog find it important to allow their wife’s (or husband’s) perspective into the picture when thinking through the sermon? Is it important or useful to make use of this particular resource?

RJS, I’m not a pastor, but I do preach and teach lay folks often, and I always ask Kris her opinion after every sermon — and I’ve been in settings where I’ve preached the “same” sermon four times in a weekend and every sermon varies — and I need Kris’ view after each one.

Since Rich and I and I do the bulk of the preaching/teaching it is part of our routine to discuss the sermon before and we debrief after. It’s helpful for both of us and I would think our faith community. I couldn’t imagine not having the process before and after. We also get feedback from our two associate pastors as well we give them feedback when they teach. It’s helped all of us stay focused on the preaching/teaching is a part of our journey together as community.

My husband, who is a pastor, and myself, a pastor, too, always bounce ideas off of the other one. Even before I, officially, entered the pastorate, when asked to teach at a conference, or speak at an event, my husband was always my sounding board. Now, as we plant a church, I think we rely on one another even more (how a woman/man hears something, or just a general statement that we are making.)

I’m blessed with a thoughtful, intelligent, and deeply empathetic wife who won’t blow smoke! I bring her opinion and thoughts in at multiple steps in my thought process as I begin to prepare to teach, as well as after. I consider her absolutely indespensible to my ministry work. She regularly catches me out for pursuing tangents and getting too heady. If I lack connecting points in my illustrations, or fail to get some good meaty application points, she’s all over it.

Ha, I totally made a point about this in my article in <a href=" http://www.tiu.edu/files/graduate/studentservices/Scrawl_Vol_5_Iss_4_-_WEB.pdf “>Today?s Graduate Scrawl, “Shalom in Gender Interaction: A Response” (p. 2).
I agree that this is a big issue and that pastors are foolish to neglect the input of their spouses (and the other-gendered part of the congregation in general). What sense does it make to alienate half (or in many cases, over half) of the congregation?
Thanks for posting.

Crap, my html code messed up. Here’s the link again: http://www.tiu.edu/files/graduate/studentservices/Scrawl_Vol_5_Iss_4_-_WEB.pdf . If that doesn’t work, you can go here and read the 10/23/09 issue: http://www.tiu.edu/divinity/connect/tedslife/studentorgs/scrawl .
Peace.

Nice article Matt, and an interesting issue of the Scrawl overall.

Thanks for reading! And thanks for keeping the conversation alive here.