Disciple Together

“I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” ~Psalm 119:11

Studies show time and again how capable and how powerful young minds are. They can memorize, adapt, integrate and learn far more effectively and quickly than adults. What we fill them with today will stay with them likely their whole lives, if they are anything like my husband, who still vividly recalls scripture he learned as a 4-year-old.

Additionally, if James Clear and his book Atomic Habits have highlighted anything, it’s that small, habitual actions are what truly form us:

“These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” Deuteronomy‬ ‭6‬:‭6‬-‭7‬

Being busy is no excuse. So firstly, you will need a time, place or other cue to remind you that it’s scripture memory time. Since we always eat supper as a family, we do our scripture memory immediately following our meal (and before dessert – that always helps with motivation!) 

Other ideas could include:

1. Posting the scripture in the car
2. Morning coffee / tea time
3. Waking up to a morning prayer and scripture
4. Setting a scripture card on the table while the kids wait for breakfast
5. When kids come home from school
6. At bed-time prayers and Bible story time
7. Each time they want screen time, they do a memory verse first

This could be made quite fun. We use a scripture memory box, and will occasionally put small treats or toys inside to enjoy after the review is done. You could also make a beautiful scroll to present each scripture, or use an oversize book, or a family Bible, drawing directly from the Bible. 

There are many ways to add novelty, joy and excitement to this habit, which is something that will also keep kids coming back and excited for more. 

We’ve been leading our kids in a daily scripture memory system for over a year now, with great success, mostly attributed to having great consistency. Building some kind of a regular scripture memory habit into your daily or weekly routine is critical, and I cover our system more in this post. 

Furthermore, with a loving, encouraging and patient approach, setting greater expectations for our children gives them a challenge to rise to, and a sense of accomplishment as well as increased self-esteem. 

This is no small side-benefit! Please catch this: giving kids a challenge and the ability to work through tough things could be one of the most effective ways to ensure they cultivate a healthy self-esteem and an increased capacity to tolerate discomfort, leading to better mental health generally.

But actually getting that scripture in mind in the first place is what I want to share with you now. There are 11 different techniques we use on a regular basis to commit scripture to memory:

1. Meaning: Firstly, we are always sure to talk about the verse and its meaning. I often find out that my kids might not know one of the words. How can they memorize something they don’t understand? Take an occasion early on to discuss the meaning of the scripture and even tie it into their personal experience. When they see that scripture helps them overcome something heard in their life, they start to see that scripture is for them, today and always.
   
2. Repetition: clearly, repetition is the number one thing that will help you to memorize anything. The more opportunities you create to repeat it, the easier it becomes. When we first teach a new scripture, we usually repeat it at least 3-4 times. We might break the passage into smaller sections, and have the children copy a section. Or get them to repeat the entire verse, if it’s achievable in one go.
   
3. Actions: I often accompany scripture with hand and body movement. Adding movement to words activates more brain regions. Increases blood flow and oxygen, strengthens neural pathways, and reduces stress / improves focus!
   
4. Sign Language: Much like the more general movement, learning to sign a scripture helps to internalize it by engaging multiple brain pathways, adding muscle memory, giving a visual anchor, and increasing focus and attention. Don’t be shy to challenge even younger kids with sign language; encouraging a growth mindset versus a perfection mindset will set them up for tackling larger challenges in the future. At the same time, be mindful to go slow and celebrate whatever successes come with tougher challenges.
   
5. Rhythm: I personally find rhythm paired with some form of movement (clapping / marching / patting hands) to be very effective in memorizing.
   
6. Song: For better or for worse, we know how quickly children pick up song lyrics. Feed them songs full of scripture instead of feeding them to Baby Shark. Use familiar melodies (like Itsy Bitsy spider, twinkle twinkle, etc)  to turn scripture into an easy-to-memorize tune.
   
   Fortunately, there are also so many wonderful scripture songs available online (Some of our faves include Scripture Lullabies)
   
7. Key words: my husband favours letting the kids fill in the missing word when we practice scripture. He will often target the key words, and let our three children take turns filling in the blanks. It sure keeps them on their toes!
   
8. Different voices: I like practicing the verse using different voices, like a mouse voice, a robot voice, an accent, or as an animal. The kids love to make their own suggestions as well. 

9. Question and Answer: Some verses lend themselves well to questions and answers. In these cases, you can prompt the next section of the verse by asking a question, and letting the child answer.
   
10. Patterns: Finding repeating words, phrases or patterns can be a huge help in memorizing scripture. Look for ways that words or ideas repeat, or contrast.
    
11. Application: The most important time you can review scripture is when you or your kids face something in real life that the scripture addresses. The only way we can do that is to have that scripture at the ready. 

Click below for a full playlist of each of these techniques:

BONUS! If I can encourage you in just one thing, it is this: Start. Just start. See what works. Let yourself fail. Let the days go by that you forget to do scripture memory. Then reassess: is there a different time, place or cue I need to tie this habit to, in order to make it work better for our family? I intentionally call a lot of things I do ‘experiments,” so that I have permission to fail, to do them for a limited amount of time, and to totally change my approach. It has been very helpful! 

“These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” ~‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭6‬:‭6‬-‭7‬

“I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” psalm 119:11

“Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.” ~Proverbs 7:2-3

“Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.” ~Colossians 3:16

Why this matters

The things we teach children at an early age are very ‘sticky’ and liable to be with them their entire lives. Our greatest ministry is to our families. We must recognize that equipping our children to have God’s word in their hearts and on their lips is the equipping they will need to live out their calling to be Christlike.