Notes

[2Timothy2]

Does anyone here take notes of the pastor's sermon? I ask because studies apparently show that we forget about 90% of what we hear, like from a lecture, within 24 hours or so. But if we take notes, and review them within an hour or two of the lecture, we retain most of the material.

So, anyone? If so, how do you go about it? I know some will say that they don't take notes because they don't want to be distracted from the message, but, taking notes makes you focus more on the message, so that is really a cop out. IMO

 

[kelco]

Yeah I do take notes. I use the margin of my bible and write the date on it it. I usually try to read the notes that evening or the next day. I do go through alot of bibles that way though!

 

[Kari8276]

Does anyone here take notes of the pastor's sermon? I ask because studies apparently show that we forget about 90% of what we hear, like from a lecture, within 24 hours or so. But if we take notes, and review them within an hour or two of the lecture, we retain most of the material.

So, anyone? If so, how do you go about it? I know some will say that they don't take notes because they don't want to be distracted from the message, but, taking notes makes you focus more on the message, so that is really a cop out. IMO

I take notes, so does about 80% of my church. Also, we record our services and the tapes are excellent for reviewing the material! I listen to them in my car every morning. It's great! Good luck!!

*Kari*

 

[RThibeault]

I do. It is a great way to go back and test and see if what the pastor is preaching is on line with the Word of God. Also, this is a great resource for future lessons and teachings.

It also has the additional benefit of keeping me awake in church. Not to be disrespectful, but sometimes I am just plain tired.

 

[wvmtnkid]

Sometimes, not all the time. I have visited several churches that have an outline they hand out where you can "fill in the blanks" as you go along or take notes. I have liked that style. Most of the time, if I take notes, it's to put down an idea or a thought that will help me understand a particular verse better, or perhaps something I hadn't thought of before in connection to a passage.

 

[Starcradle]

Yes, I take notes. Most of them are entered in a journal with the date, sermon title, and corresponding Scriptures.

 

[nhzname]

I take notes just about every time I'm at the service. Sometimes it may only be a few comments or quotes that have really stood out and driven the sermon home for me. Other times, I've walked away with the beginnings or even complete songs from the Scripture used that day.

Our church records 2 services each week, and these are available in video and audio, as well as online now. The bulletins they pass out each service make it easy to keep track and have something to write on at the same time.

 

[fishstix]

I don't, nor does anyone at my church. For myself, I would find note taking distracting - I tend not to take many notes in classes either as I remember better if I'm paying attention to what is being said rather than writing notes. And I have a hard time reading what I've written afterwards, if I even look at it. But everyone learns differently. If you learn best by writing, then by all means take notes

 

[KeilCoppes]

I try to take notes - usually my main goal is to have one or two important points to ponder during the week - the core of the messages as applied to me. These then spend the week on the screen of my laptop where I will see them and think of them.

We also put our sermons on sermonaudio.com - recorded from the same computer as I made my notes on.

 

[Blank123]

I haven't before, but I've been feeling the need for it lately because my pastor really covers so much in his sermons that I can use in ministry during the week. The problem is I rarely have any caffeine intake before church so I always forget my pen and paper

 

[2Timothy2]

Hey, great stuff so far y'all. Thanks. I believe note taking helps get us actively involved in the sermon. Fishstix, I would strongly encourage you to try to learn to take notes. I think you will find that you retain much more of the information the pastor presents. Of course, this note taking is only part of our part, the Holy Spirit also works in us and can bring these things to our remembrance. But we are not called to be lazy either. Listening to the sermon, and not daydreaming, lol, the first step.

Here is a site that has some ideas for note taking. It is geared towards the college goer, but I believe many of these ideas could be applied to sermons, with wonderful results.

Note Taking

 

[ChrisWins]

Yeah, I do. I use a Mead Composition notebook which is always with my Bible and I always have pens ready. Every time I am at church I simply cannot just sit and listen or else I'd go crazy (unless I'm in a church where they're not speaking English and I haven't a clue what they're saying, then I don't take notes... that happens like when I travel somewhere foreign.)

Sometimes my notes are just a mere 4 or 5 lines but sometimes as much as 2 pages! And my notebook doesn't just get filled on Sundays. Learning more about God's Word just on Sundays absolutely isn't enough for me. During the week i listen to sermons at home, generally 4 to 5 a week, Monday to Saturday. When I do listen, I sit with no distractions and listen as intent as ever because I want to learn from what the Pastor's saying. Even though it's coming through computer speakers that doesn't lessen the message. My notes are written as usual. I don't just take the notes to give my hand exercise... every 3 or 4 days, with Bible opened, I go back and review the last few sermon's worth of notes.

Note taking has been invaluable to me. The most important points are right there for me to refer to. If they weren't there's a darn good chance they'd get lost in this head of mine.

 

[Glorianna]

I ALWAYS take notes. I will then keep my sermon notes in a binder and review them when I get a chance. I love it because they're right there if I need them.

 

[boilerblues]

I've tried taking notes, I miss far more than I'm able to put down in my notes. I can't write while listening to something else, I don't do well multi tasking in a situation for that. I've found it's more effective for me to just pay close attention. I'll usually download the sermons to listen to later also. Also, since our house churches study the same text as the sermon I usually have access to the study notes for each week also.

Different people have different learning styles, it's being rather judgemental to call someone lazy because they don't take notes. Each person has to identify how they learn best and make use of that. It's always helpful to try something new, but if one way is more effective than another then we should make use of that method.

 

[2Timothy2]

Hmm, I've read over what is in this thread so far, but I keep missing where someone called someone else lazy. (EDIT: Ah, I see now, in my post at the top of this page. Sorry if that didn't come across as humorous. Please note the "lol" in there. It was definately meant tongue and cheek.) And, isn't calling someone judgemental, judgemental itself?(EDIT: I still stand by this statement though)

I would suggest that if you think you miss too much while taking notes, your method is somewhat flawed. Try different methods of taking notes. There are all sorts of ways to do this. I honestly believe that very nearly everyone who puts in the effort will benefit from taking notes. Passive listening leads to more lost infromation than active listening/notetaking and review. That said, there surely is that tiny percentage that listen better than most, remember what they hear better, and do not need the active participation of something like taking notes.

Also, if the sermon is recorded, or archived on the church's website, notetaking isn't as important on Sunday, but it would still help methinks.

 

[lilray]

i take notes and have a notebook that i keep all the sermons in. sometimes if i really feel the sermon spoke to me - i'll buy the cd too. how do i go about doing it?!?!? at my church, they have a study sheet that comes in the bulletin. you have to fill in the missing blanks throughout the sermon. i just write extra notes on that. we usually end up talking about it in my bible study so that helps with retaining the message too. there's a study guide that's posted every week on my church website for a more indepth look at the sermon. for me, it's good to use that, my notes and the cd on those sermon's that i really need to meditate on.

i definitely remember a lot more from writing stuff down than just listening. it helps to keep my mind from wondering, but everyone's different so i guess whatever works right?

 

[fishstix]

Hmm, I've read over what is in this thread so far, but I keep missing where someone called someone else lazy. (EDIT: Ah, I see now, in my post at the top of this page. Sorry if that didn't come across as humorous. Please note the "lol" in there. It was definately meant tongue and cheek.) And, isn't calling someone judgemental, judgemental itself?(EDIT: I still stand by this statement though)

I would suggest that if you think you miss too much while taking notes, your method is somewhat flawed. Try different methods of taking notes. There are all sorts of ways to do this. I honestly believe that very nearly everyone who puts in the effort will benefit from taking notes. Passive listening leads to more lost infromation than active listening/notetaking and review. That said, there surely is that tiny percentage that listen better than most, remember what they hear better, and do not need the active participation of something like taking notes.

Also, if the sermon is recorded, or archived on the church's website, notetaking isn't as important on Sunday, but it would still help methinks.

There are different learning styles. Some people are very visual and learn best by seeing. Others are more auditory oriented and learn best by hearing. Others need to actually do something - get involved with their hands or even their whole body - in order to learn best. Some learn best by saying things out loud themselves. Others need to write things down. And of course most people are some combination of the above and other learning styles. We're all unique and what works best for one person won't necessarily be the best for another person.

As far as 'passive listening' goes - there are lots of ways to listen actively. Taking notes is one way. But there are other ways too, including just paying careful attention and thinking about how what is being said applies to you personally. That is one method of learning that seems to work well for me.

While I've never tried note taking in church, as I mentioned I don't take a lot of notes in school either. I have tried assorted learning and note taking techniques through my years of elementary school, high school, university, and graduate school. And in the end, I really did come to the conclusion that other than for things like math and stats, I personally learn more by focussing my attention on listening than by dividing my attention between listening and scribbling notes. Especially if the prof had a thick accent and extra effort was required to listen and actually understand what the words were. (I guess I should probably mention that my pastor has a very thick European accent) Also, for me, note-taking isn't really an 'active' process. Sure, it gives my muscles excercise, but it doesn't necessarily seem to engage my brain at all - sort of like when you read a page in a book and realize that you don't remember a single word that you read.

To be honest, when I did a sort of test to assess what my learning style was, it came up with 'avoidant'. If you've ever seen 'A Beautiful Mind', it's kind of like how the guy felt that classes would dull his mind so he never went. I'm not quite that extreme (I went to all my classes and didn't have the opinion that they were all useless), but sort of like that. Anyway, I learn best when I'm not being forced (including by myself) and when I'm almost not really 'trying' to learn at all. Kind of an oxymoron I guess...

But like I said, everyone is unique. And what works for me is not necessarily best for someone else. So I would encourage everyone to find out what works best for them personally - which may indeed be taking notes.

 

[boilerblues]

Hmm, I've read over what is in this thread so far, but I keep missing where someone called someone else lazy. (EDIT: Ah, I see now, in my post at the top of this page. Sorry if that didn't come across as humorous. Please note the "lol" in there. It was definately meant tongue and cheek.) And, isn't calling someone judgemental, judgemental itself?(EDIT: I still stand by this statement though)

I would suggest that if you think you miss too much while taking notes, your method is somewhat flawed. Try different methods of taking notes. There are all sorts of ways to do this. I honestly believe that very nearly everyone who puts in the effort will benefit from taking notes. Passive listening leads to more lost infromation than active listening/notetaking and review. That said, there surely is that tiny percentage that listen better than most, remember what they hear better, and do not need the active participation of something like taking notes.

Also, if the sermon is recorded, or archived on the church's website, notetaking isn't as important on Sunday, but it would still help methinks.

I'm certainly not a passive listener, I tend to be very engaged when listening. That's probably why taking notes doesn't work for me, because I have to break my focus on what is being said in order to write. I had a course in college where the prof put extensive notes on overheads and ran through them while teaching. That semester I either had the choice of paying attention to what the prof said or copying his notes down, I wasn't able to do both. When communicating I focus on what I'm looking at. It's a challenge for me to talk on the phone because I have to work in order to focus on the conversation with the person I can't see. I will literally pace my house like a caged lion because if I stop I'll focus on something in the room and I'll totally lose the conversation. I have to keep moving so I don't focus and I can work at keeping my attention on the phone conversation. The same thing carries over to the sermon, as soon as I look away from the speaker I lose all focus on what he is saying.

I'm not saying note taking is wrong or that it's not a good idea, it just doesn't work for everyone. I'm also a contemplative, I tend to take things in by spending a lot of time meditating on them. I've been in church all my life and there's little I haven't heard before (not trying to be prideful, I've just heard approximately 1,400 sermons in my life, that would be just Sunday morning). I certainly need the reminders, I suffer from spiritual amnesia just like anyone else. But usually there's just one thing from the sermon that will stick with me and I'll spend time wrestling with that thought. Take for instance this week's sermon, we hit Ephesians 1:1-14. Our pastor gave an excellent sermon, but I've been focused on the idea that God has given us EVERY spiritual blessing, a key one being the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Yahweh inside of us. Yet that Almighty God dwelling inside of me is so meek and gentle He says "don't quench me", as opposed to the demons who violently possessed people. So how do I allow God inside of me to transform who I am so that I am able to put my sinful flesh to death and Christ is able to live through me? Our pastor didn't go down that road, but that's what has come from that passage for my mind to chew on.

 

[2Timothy2]

I'm certainly not a passive listener, I tend to be very engaged when listening. That's probably why taking notes doesn't work for me, because I have to break my focus on what is being said in order to write. I had a course in college where the prof put extensive notes on overheads and ran through them while teaching. That semester I either had the choice of paying attention to what the prof said or copying his notes down, I wasn't able to do both. When communicating I focus on what I'm looking at. It's a challenge for me to talk on the phone because I have to work in order to focus on the conversation with the person I can't see. I will literally pace my house like a caged lion because if I stop I'll focus on something in the room and I'll totally lose the conversation. I have to keep moving so I don't focus and I can work at keeping my attention on the phone conversation. The same thing carries over to the sermon, as soon as I look away from the speaker I lose all focus on what he is saying.

I'm not saying note taking is wrong or that it's not a good idea, it just doesn't work for everyone. I'm also a contemplative, I tend to take things in by spending a lot of time meditating on them. I've been in church all my life and there's little I haven't heard before (not trying to be prideful, I've just heard approximately 1,400 sermons in my life, that would be just Sunday morning). I certainly need the reminders, I suffer from spiritual amnesia just like anyone else. But usually there's just one thing from the sermon that will stick with me and I'll spend time wrestling with that thought. Take for instance this week's sermon, we hit Ephesians 1:1-14. Our pastor gave an excellent sermon, but I've been focused on the idea that God has given us EVERY spiritual blessing, a key one being the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Yahweh inside of us. Yet that Almighty God dwelling inside of me is so meek and gentle He says "don't quench me", as opposed to the demons who violently possessed people. So how do I allow God inside of me to transform who I am so that I am able to put my sinful flesh to death and Christ is able to live through me? Our pastor didn't go down that road, but that's what has come from that passage for my mind to chew on.

Right on!

 

[ChrisWins]

I've been in church all my life and there's little I haven't heard before (not trying to be prideful, I've just heard approximately 1,400 sermons in my life, that would be just Sunday morning).

I just felt the need to comment on this and my very basic thought is: Wow. That blows me away. I absolutely couldn't imagine that in my life. It's amazing how many Sundays I have spent skiing, snowboarding, rock climbing, climbing mountains, hiking, backpacking, surfing, sleeping, hungover, waking up and then hanging out in a parking lot or on some city streets havin' fun before a Sunday night Grateful Dead show or driving somewhere in this country from a Saturday night show to a Monday show... the number of all those Sundays combined has got to be not quite half of 1400 but still a staggering number of Sundays when I was completely recreating in one way or another where God was involved a grand total of 0% of the time! Wow. And all those Sundays you were in church. Wow. Such immensely contrasting lives. I'm truly unable to wrap my mind around this and grasp the magnitude of it. I had so much fun and I am who I am today because of all that I mentioned so I don't regret not being in church at all... but I'm very glad I am now! There are occasions when nature calls and I'm out backpacking for a few days (I've got to enjoy God's creation!) and being an EMT isn't a Monday-Friday only job in society and as much as I try to get off work on weekends they've still gotta have me in there some Sundays, usually about one a month, and since I'm doing something essential for people I don't mind... God knows my heart and soul is completely with Him, He knows I only want to grow closer to Christ each and every day. Missing a Sunday won't set me back but nowadays it's definitely my goal to go to church every week if possible... and just for the heck of it to keep this thread somewhat in line with the topic... as I said several posts back, I love taking notes! If people don't it's my hope they retain all they hear. My learning, personally, is increased from note taking. I feel I can take on that multi-task pretty well - writing and listening. Too many classes in college helped me with that ability. I also believe God helps steer me towards what to write at times. It seems I don't just take down every little thing. That would be a waste. I'm really able to get the main points. Usually that's about a page and a half worth, sometimes less, sometimes 2+ pages. Truly invaluable. In church and listening to sermons at home I'm not just going through the motions of listening for the sake of it, I've got the desire to always learn more.