Memorizing Scripture with Your Choir
Memorizing scripture with your children’s choir is a great way to maximize the impact of your choir program. Just like the songs you sing will be written on their hearts for life, so will scripture.
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I always pick a memory verse to go with whatever song we are singing. I have some suggested verses to accompany my suggested hymns in this article. But you can pick any verse that speaks to your heart. That is the beauty of God’s word!
But you might be wondering what version of scripture to select as you incorporate scripture memory. As I wrestled with this, I thought of three possible paths.
- Use a “kid-friendly” translation.
- Use the translation that you use and are personally most familiar with.
- Use the translation that is used in the sermons that the children during worship service.
Here is what I decided on this issue after quite a bit of thought.
Use the translation that is used from the pulpit and in the sermons.
I’ll share how I have decided on this issue.
There are lot of different Bible translations out there, of course. You know that.
Why use the translation that is used during the sermons in your church (hopefully the Bible is front and center in your church’s sermons, after all)? Why not use a more “kid friendly version” than what your pastor uses. Or even doing a little Bible translation of your own where you modify a longer verse into a more bite-sized chunk?
My experience is that children can memorize almost anything. And they are constantly memorizing something. Since young children aren’t as distracted with tasks and technology as adults yet, their brains have much better focus than ours. I can still remember little verses and poems from when I was a child. Ask me to memorize something now…Yeah right!
My kids can run circles around me when it comes to committing things to memory. They can hear a song just a few times and remember it. They can memorize dialogue from tv shows or books they read. Try to skip a page of their favorite story to zip through bedtime routine. No way! They will catch you all day long.
So, because your kids WILL be memorizing things, you as the adult get to have a strong influence over what they memorize. Do you want them memorizing the intro song to some lame tv show? Or God’s Word. They are going to memorize things. It is just a matter of WHAT.
But, though they are good at memorizing, they are not as adept at learning nuance and meaning. The goal now is to get the words solidified in their mind for LIFE. The deeper meaning will come later.
So, if you memorize a verse in one translation, you might get excited to see that text in the church bulletin or the liturgy reading or the sermon passage. “Hooray, the kids will get to hear the verses they learned in children’s choir during the worship service today”. But if those verses aren’t read word-for-word, you are not going to get that moment you were hoping for. It is going to go right on by them. BUT, if they hear the exact verse, there is a chance their ears will perk up.
This is why I think the translation you choose should be what they will hear in the sanctuary. It will increase their chances of seeing how the very same word of God that they are learning is used in corporate worship.
Comment below with your thoughts on this. And come over to the Simply Joyful Noises Facebook group to get more support at you lead your choir.