By Cyndee Ownbey
Busy summer schedules can make it challenging for all of us to regularly engage with God’s Word.
Many of our women do not have time for a weekly summer Bible study. How can we encourage them to connect with God’s Word? I’ve got an idea to share with you!
Psalm 119:11 (ESV) says, “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” Our women’s ministry team applied that verse and encouraged our women to store up God’s Word by participating in a Bible verse memory challenge.
We selected one month this spring and hosted a weekly memory verse challenge. The response from our women was great!
Our purposes were to
- hide God's Word in our hearts;
- reinforce Sunday's sermon (Scriptures were pulled from each week’s sermon); and
- increase Scripture recall.
We hosted our challenge within our women’s ministry Facebook group and on an email list.
Every Monday we shared the verse for the week along with a mnemonic device. On Fridays we invited women to type out the verse (without looking!) in the comments.
Here are some memory methods you could recommend:
- Use first letters. Write down the first letter of each word. Practice the verse by looking at only those first letters.
- Listen to it. Record the verse on your phone and play it repeatedly until you can say it with the recording.
- Chop it! Break the verse into smaller chunks, memorizing one chunk each day.
- Put the verse to music. Try singing the verse to a familiar tune like “Happy Birthday.”
- Make up hand motions to help remember the words.
- Download a Bible memorization app.
- Delete a word. Each time you handwrite the verse, delete a word and say it aloud instead of writing it.
Our memory verse challenge provided accountability and community. On my own, I don’t know that I would have memorized four Bible verses that month. Doing it alongside other women was a lot more fun! I must admit that my competitive nature kicked in too.
Imagine the long-term impact a Bible verse memory challenge could have on your women. They might continue to memorize Scripture on their own, with friends, or with family members. Once they find a memorization method that works for them, they may decide to memorize even longer passages.
I pray we will all hide God’s Word in our hearts this summer!
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