Helloooooo Summer! For many families, summer is full of things like tee ball, swimming pools, park days, and more “ice cream for dinner” nights than anyone cares to admit. These are all wonderful things, but what if summer could also be a season that brings your family closer to God?
One simple but impactful way to strengthen your relationship with God is to memorize his word. “Storing up” God’s word in your heart helps you remember important truths about who God is. Scripture memory is such an amazing tool we have as Christians, but in the age of Google, we often underutilize it.
Memorizing scripture can also be FUN to do together with family members of any age. This summer, challenge your family (or friends!) to memorize some key verses together.
Here are 4 tips and tricks, as well as some suggested verses, to create your own summer scripture challenge.
1. Create Your Challenge
Start by deciding how many verses you want to tackle and how long you’re going to give yourself to memorize them. You could pick one longer passage for your whole family to work on throughout the summer. You could choose a few shorter, age-appropriate verses to have each family member memorize monthly. Or you could all focus on one passage and have every family member pick a different verse.
Whatever you choose to take on as a family, make sure everyone knows the plan!
2. Listen To Your Verses
Hearing scripture aloud is a great way to memorize it, and there are LOTS of ways to do that! Apps like Dwell or YouVersion have recordings of the Bible in several different versions.
Music is also a great way to memorize scripture – especially for kids! When you choose your verses, check out some of our favorite scripture memory artists like Seeds Family Worship, Doorpost Songs, or Slug & Bugs to see if the verse you picked is set to music!
3. Get Moving
If you’re memorizing with kids, make up motions to help you remember the verse! This can be fun to do together as a family – see what creative motions your kids come up with to help remember the words.
You’ll also be worshiping God with your mind AND body!
4. "Write Them on Your Doorposts" (Deut. 6:9)
Okay, maybe don’t take a sharpie to your house, BUT you can write out your memory verses stick them where you’ll see them regularly. This can be as simple as a post-it on your bathroom mirror or as fancy as creating art to hang on your walls.
Seeing scripture written out will help your whole family not only remember your challenge but also get more familiar with the verse every day.
Suggested Verses
Memorizing scripture is also easier if you know the context for the verse and are learning about similar themes.
Here are a few suggested verses split up by age based on what each age group will be learning about on Sundays at The Crossing this summer!
Early Childhood
“So you will be my people, and I will be your God.” – Jeremiah 30:22
"Be strong and courageous... for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."– Joshua 1:9
“The people who know their God shall stand firm and take action.” – Daniel 11:32b
Kindergarten & 1st Grade
“If anyone believes in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone! The new has come!” – 2 Corinthians 5:17
“Let everything that has breath, praise the Lord.” – Psalm 150:6
2nd & 3rd Grade
The Lord’s Prayer from Matthew 6 (the whole thing!)
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name, your kingdom come,
your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever.
Amen.
This is a great option for your whole family to memorize if you want to tackle a “bigger” chunk of scripture as a family.
4th & 5th Grade
Matthew 6:25-30, Luke 6:32-36, Mark 9:33-35, Matthew 20:26-28
Grown-Ups
This summer’s sermon series at The Crossing will be over the Psalms. You can pick one that’s meaningful to you or check out some of these shorter Psalms for great options!
Psalm 5, Psalm 34, Psalm 63, Psalm 121, Psalm 139
Looking for more ways to make the Bible part of your summer routine? Check out Ten Minute Bible Talks, a Crossing podcast that takes you through a passage of Scripture in the time it takes you to get to work or do the dishes.
