Tag Archives: memorizing Scripture

Growing in God’s Word: Helping Children Memorize Scripture

Posted by Jun 9, 2017 children, Methods for teaching children, Serving , , , , , , , , ,

Summer is here and it’s time to review the year, and consider ways to sharpen our teaching skills for our future students. If you’re in children’s ministry, you’re probably teaching throughout the summer. But one thing  is for sure if you’re a good teacher, you’re always learning new things and looking for ways to improve your teaching!  In my last blog,  I discussed the importance of helping children memorize Scripture. Here are some practical ways to help them learn—and retain Bible verses in their long term memory.

  • Psychologists tell us that information that’s presented both visually and verbally is easiest to remember. This is why using visuals and objects when teaching children is important.  And why explaining an idea with words, and visually is especially effective. When teaching children something new, associate the new concept or information with something they already know, and build on that. For example, when teaching about baby Moses, using a doll wrapped in a blanket will help young children associate something they’re familiar with, with a new story about a baby who was protected by God.
  • Before you have children memorize Scripture, teach them the meaning of the verse. They’ll remember it longer and be able to apply it in their life (in keeping with their age and maturity).
  • Children also learn through experiences, and they remember activities more when they talk about them. The experience of working together to put the words of a memory verse in order, filling in blank spaces of a verse, or playing games that reinforce Scripture will help them memorize better. Children will look forward to your class each week if you make it interesting and fun.  Surprise them occasionally with a new game or activity that will bring enthusiasm to your Bible verse learning time.
  • Because short-term memory is very brief—only 20-30 seconds in duration according to memory experts, it will be lost unless new information is connected to your long-term memory. For example, most people can only remember a new telephone number briefly unless they write it down, repeat it, or associate it with something for recall.  Experts tell us that long-term memory comes from well-learned information, which leads us to the importance of organization and repetition
  • Well organized information is easier to learn and memorize than disorganized material presented in a haphazard way. For this reason, we should take care to teach Bible verses in a systematic way. Teaching, explaining, reviewing, and linking verses from week to week will help children retain them in their long-term memory.
  • Repetition is essential for helping children memorize new information. Once they’re familiar with the verse and its meaning, use a variety of methods to repeat and review the verse.  Do this periodically with verses they already know to reinforce them as well.

    (The above steps for teaching Scripture to children are taken from my book, First Steps for Effective Teaching) 

    In my next blog I’ll share a variety of Bible verse learning activities.

God Bless You Today!

Verda Rubottom

 

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Learning to Love God’s Word

Posted by Mar 2, 2017 children, Serving , , , , , , , ,

Every Sunday in churches across America, gleeful preschool children sing out the favorite traditional song:  “The B-i-b-l-e , yes that’s the book for me!”  It’s a familiar song to those of us who grew up in church and learned about the Bible at a young age.

But I sometimes wonder if we understand just how important it is to teach the Bible to little children today. We know from Scripture that the Apostle Paul understood how important it is.  In his letter to Timothy,  Paul reminded the young preacher of the spiritual training in his early childhood years that brought him to faith in Christ. Paul writes,  From infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.2 Timothy 3:15

Like Timothy, I was blessed with a mother—and grandmothers —who taught me the great stories of the Bible and helped me learn portions of Scripture.   When I was just five years old,  my mother helped me memorize the first chapter of the book of Psalms. Although I understood some of the verses,  I didn’t understand all the words in the King James Version. I didn’t grasp much about “the seat of the scornful” or the “chaff which the wind driveth away” (Psalms 1:1 & 4). But when I was older I learned more about the meaning of those words.  As I grew, my understanding grew. And that Psalm has stayed with me throughout my adult years!

My Sunday school teachers understood the value of teaching Scripture to children too. My 5th grade teacher,  encouraged our class to learn Bible verses each week.  I took the challenge and enjoyed watching the gold stars accumulate each Sunday on the chart until at last I earned my very own Bible! It was special because of the gold edged pages and the golden zipper with a cross. But what made the award even more special was the appreciation and praise of my teacher.  She expected us to learn and do well, and we did.  Her teaching was not too hard for us to grasp—but it was not too easy either. I had to think in her class and I liked that! I’m not sure if my teacher knew how much she influenced my life, actually I doubt that she could know.  But now as I recall those days, I’m encouraged and believe that my young students will one day benefit from learning their Bible verses each week too!

Helping children learn and memorize Scripture is an important part of our teaching ministry because it will help them grow spiritually. It will help them now—and in the years to come. We don’t know what the future holds for our students, where they will be ten or twenty years from now, but we can prepare them for the days and years ahead by helping them hide God’s Word in their hearts.

In my next blog, I’ll discuss different methods for teaching Scripture to children that are both effective and easy to use.

God bless you as you teach today!

Verda Rubottom