6 Ideas to Encourage Scripture Memory in Church

Churches tend to do a great job teaching children about the value of memorizing Scripture. Unfortunately, that rarely translate to our adult ministries. If you’re a pastor or ministry leader who has a passion to encourage more Bible memory among your congregation, take note as we share a few ideas that you might be able to implement within your own church.

Not every idea here will work for every church, but the goal is to encourage you or your leadership team to consider creative ways to integrate Scripture memory into your weekly gatherings.

And a special note: don’t be afraid to tap volunteers to lead this! More than likely, there is already someone in your congregation who loves to memorize God’s Word. They may not publicly broadcast that they do this, but if you put out a request for help, they will answer it.

Ok, let’s dive in…

Turn “Scripture Reading” into “Scripture Recitation”

The corporate reading of Scripture is already a part of many Sunday morning church services – and if it’s not, it should be! Instead of having somebody read the passage, though, consider asking somebody to recite it from memory.

There is a difference between somebody reading Scripture and somebody reciting it from memory.

Those who have memorized a passage of the Bible have spent countless hours repeating it, absorbing it and internalizing every word. When they recite, they subconsciously communicate the emotion that the author likely wrote with.

Not only does the body of Christ benefit from hearing the passage come to life, there is also something very inspiring about seeing somebody recite Scripture from memory.

If you’ve ever seen David Platt recite part of Romans, Levi Lusko recite the entire book of James or Francis Chan recite the book of Ephesians from the pulpit, you understand the power this can have to those who listen.

Start a “Family Scripture Memory Challenge”

Bible memory often feels extremely overwhelming to those who haven’t done it. You’re never going to memorize the whole Bible, so it seems like this never-ending project.

That’s why it can be so valuable to create some kind of Scripture memory challenge with a definite start and end date.

When setting up this kind of challenge – whether it’s with the entire congregation or within a smaller group of the church – here are a few things to consider:

• Get the whole family involved: It’s awesome for kids to see their parents model a passion for God’s Word, and having kids get involved will keep the parents accountable!
• Start short and build from there: It’s ok to start with a 1-week challenge and if that’s successful, work toward a 1-month challenge. People need to be able to see the finish line.
• Celebrate the wins! It is perfectly ok to offer prizes and rewards! Obviously our motivation should be to know God’s Word better, but it is good to celebrate when we complete a goal. Encourage this among your challenge participants.

These kinds of challenges are effective in kid’s church and even within youth groups, but don’t be afraid to give it a try with adults. You might be surprised at how much they get excited about it!

Integrate Verse Memorization into a Sermon Series

Whether your church works through the Bible verse-by-verse or you do more of a topical sermon series, there is a missed opportunity if you aren’t integrating verse memorization into your Sunday sermons or even as part of the music worship.

One of the biggest reasons most Christians don’t memorize more of the Bible (besides thinking that they have a bad memory) is simply that they don’t know what to memorize.

As you’re going through a specific book or passage of Scripture, why not pick out a theme verse that really captures the heart of what you’re teaching. Memorize it and recite it from the stage, and then challenge your listeners to do the same!

Bonus points if you can collaborate with your kid’s program to follow along with memorizing those same verses. As mentioned in the challenge idea above, having kids memorize simultaneously with their parents can provide amazing accountability!

Organize a Group Training + Accountability

Some churches offer evangelism training. Others have prayer groups or after church small groups.

What about a Scripture memory training?

Most people are under the false impression that “memorization” is a boring process of repeating over and over and over again…only to realize that you’ve forgotten it 10 minutes later.

Rote memorization is not the only way to memorize the Bible!

There are so many other creative ways to use this amazing brain that God has given us to memorize His word, including music, hand motions and even advanced techniques like mind palaces for Bible memory.

Organizing some kind of Bible memory training will open people’s eyes up to the various methods and techniques that are out there and more than likely renew their passion to prioritize Bible memory. Plus, doing it in a group builds a fun internal accountability!

Create an Online Forum for Scripture Memorization

Starting to memorize Scripture is relatively easy. Continuing with that commitment can be significantly harder.

There are so many different ways that you can create a forum for encouragement among those in your congregation who love to memorize Scripture. For example, you could:

• Create a Facebook Group: Keep the group private, which will allow people to post what they’re memorizing and even possibly post a video of them reciting the verses they’ve memorized.
• Create an Email List: As part of your church communication, you can segment your list for those who want to memorize Scripture and make sure that you send along the verses that are part of your sermon series for that week.
• Join the Bible Memory Goal Community: Within our Bible Memory Goal community, you can ask to have your own private space just for your church members so that they can not only see the thousands of others who are using the public space, but they can also have their own private space to interact and encourage each other.

Feel free to reach out to our team to learn more about how we can serve your congregation in this way!

Sing or Write Scripture-based Worship Songs

Worship through music is one of the best times to help introduce Scripture memory in church! Our brains are wired to remember things we sing, which is why it’s often so easy to remember lyrics from our favorite songs.

So why not use that to your advantage? For example:

• Choose Scripture Songs: There are plenty of examples of songs that borrow almost word-for-word from the Bible. Consider songs like Micah 6:8, Forever (Psalm 136), or even one of the many Scripture-based songs by Shane and Shane.
• Write Your Own Songs: If you have somebody in your congregation that has a talent for composition or writing, ask them to write a song based on the passage that you’re teaching through.

However you choose to do it, be sure to bring attention to the fact that you are singing passage of Scripture and which passages you are singing.

Other Ideas for Scripture Memorization

Whether it’s your church or simply a small group, there is so much value added when you incorporate Scripture memorization. Need a little more inspiration? Here are some things that could help:

• Listen to our Bible Memory Interviews: Listen as we interview pastors, authors, and teachers about how they memorize the Bible.
• How to Start Memorizing the Bible: If you need help knowing where to start – including how to memorize and which parts of the Bible you should start with, we’ve got you covered.