Background: my husband was raised southern baptist, but strayed from the church long ago. I am not Christian, was not raised Christian, and at this time feel no urge to convert.

Recently, my husband has been feeling a calling to come back to religion. It has been years since he voluntarily went to church, basically attending only for weddings and funerals, but he wants to start going more regularly. And I want to support this. He's seemed lost, and I think this might be a big help to him. So how, as a non-Christian, do I help and support him? I plan on attending with him and encouraging his attendance, but other than that, I'm not sure what I can do.

Enjoy bible study from an intellectual standpoint? The same way studying world religions is fun?

You already have a loving heart, so just keep an open mind.

Support him.

One of the key tenents of Chirstianity is the relationship between the husband and wife as a picture of the relationship between Christ (the husband) and His church (the bride).

The husband is the spiritual leader of the house.  He is the decision maker and the wife is supposed to fully and whole heartedly support him in these decisions.  However, this is not a license for the husband to act outside of the best interests of the family.  He bears the responsibility of the actions - good and bad - of his family members.  He is also supposed to treat his wife the way Christ treats his church.

Christ willingly and wholeheartedly came to Earth knowing that he would suffer humiliation, pain, torture, separation from God, and ultimately He would die for His church.

And a good Christ following husband will do the same for his wife.

It's hard to fend off the evangelists.  I know their religion teaches them to try to convert non-believers.  I just get tired of telling them I'm old enough, and know enough to have made the decision for myself.  And still they keep trying.



If I was in the same position, with a wife who wanted to get back to her religious roots - for whatever reason - I would support her decision and wish her well, all while continuing to love and support her as she traveled down her own personal spiritual path, hopefully with her knowing that our spirits can be joined without both of us subscribing to the same religious tenets.



 

Keep it positive and keep being a great spouse. Check out one of the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) and have something to talk about. Commonality is surely supportive.

sit with him, put your head on his shoulder, you have no idea how good that feels for a man

This.  If a man is to lead his family, the support of his wife is paramount.   You will (or should) find a community of some of the best people in the world.  By best, I mean loving, caring, supportive, who for the most part work together.  Keep in mind these people will still be human and prone to acting like humans.

First...  I really commend your attitude!  The fact that you want to lovingly support your husband in this endeavor speaks volumes about you - both as a person, and as a wife.  

Advice wise..  (and this would certainly be up to you)  But I don't necessarily think that you'd need to attend every service in order to be supportive.  I also don't think you need to "convert" in order to be supportive.  

That being said, I'd just encourage you to keep an open mind.  Understand that no faith - including Christianity - is perfect.  And the reason for that is simple - it's because it involves imperfect human beings.  Everyone has their own weaknesses, personality quirks and failings,  They don't magically go away when a person walks into a church.  Christianity teaches that love for your fellow brother and sister helps you to overlook these failings. (Of course, serious wrongdoing - depending on the faith - isn't to be overlooked.)  

Lastly, BigEasySnow's advice might be a good starting point.  Approach it from an intellectual perspective.  If it happens to touch your heart along the way, and draws you closer to your husband and to God, then all the better.  

I sincerely wish you the best.

It's nice of you to consider supporting your husband in this wonderful opportunity. Be open to what is said in church and maybe you can both learn something that will support your marriage, your future, and your happiness. God Bless and good luck.

As iron sharpens iron...Encourage him to attend whatever men's group the church has. Ours meets only once a month, but hanging with the older brothers really helped me get synced in.

And maybe some study tools: A good study bible, I like the HCSB  study bible myself but there are other good choices out there. A copy of Fee's How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth may help. If you really want to plumb the depths of evangelical scholarship, throw in a copy of D.A. Carson's commentary on the Gospel of John.

Just go with him. Have an open mind. The day my hubs got up and started getting ready with us, I can't explain how happy that made me.

If you have any questions feel free to pm me on here or fb. I was raised sb and a preacher daughter. And I've been in your hubs shoes.

I doubt it works that way when the wife isn't Christian or even if she's Christian and doesn't subscribe to the 'husband as decision maker' doctrine.

Attending with him is a good thing to do.  Have the two of you discussed how you're going to present this to your kids?

Not sure what church your husband is planning on attending, but if that church offers any kind of instruction on what they believe, it might be worth you attending so you can understand and discuss that with your husband.

We haven't really discussed how this will impact our kids at this time. I'm not opposed to them learning Christian theology, as it's the predominant religion around here and it would be good for them to be familiar with the tenets even if they choose not to follow in their father's footsteps.

As for which church/denomination, he's undecided at the moment, but he's starting at the church his parents attend. That's a more modern style Southern Baptist service. He says he plans on attending a few different churches at least initially until he finds one that seems a good fit. If the church he settles on has that sort of a class, that's an excellent suggestion.