Seventeen verses. Hidden in our hearts.
Together, as a church, we are memorizing John 15:1-17 by the end of the year. The vine and the love. The spine of our whole theme. One passage, one finish line, one pace we can all keep.
The passage
John 15:1-17 (CSB)
The pace
One verse a week
Started
Week of August 23
The finish line
December 31
One verse a week, together
We are all holding the same word at the same time.
Every week the whole church carries the same verse. It shows up in the Sunday email, on the screen, and in your group. You will hear it enough that it starts to stick.
A verse a week from now through the end of the year gets us there with room to spare. Everyone aims at the same goal. Go at the pace your season allows, but keep the finish line in view.
The weekly plan
Week by week, verse by verse.
All Scripture is from the Christian Standard Bible, the translation we preach from.
Week 1Aug 23
John 15:1
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
Week 2Aug 30
John 15:2
Every branch in me that does not produce fruit he removes, and he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit.
Week 3Sept 6
John 15:3
You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.
Week 4Sept 13
John 15:4
Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me.
Week 5Sept 20
John 15:5
I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.
Week 6Sept 27
John 15:6
If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown aside like a branch and he withers. They gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
Week 7Oct 4
John 15:7
If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you.
Week 8Oct 11
John 15:8
My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples.
Week 9Oct 18
John 15:9
“As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Remain in my love.
Week 10Oct 25
John 15:10
If you keep my commands you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.
Week 11Nov 1
John 15:11
“I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.
Week 12Nov 8
John 15:12
“This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you.
Week 13Nov 15
John 15:13
No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends.
Week 14Nov 22
John 15:14
You are my friends if you do what I command you.
Week 15Nov 29
John 15:15
I do not call you servants anymore, because a servant doesn’t know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have heard from my Father.
Week 16Dec 6
John 15:16
You did not choose me, but I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce fruit and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you.
Week 17Dec 13
John 15:17
“This is what I command you: Love one another.
How to memorize
Three ways that actually work.
Say it and cover it
Read the verse out loud three times. Cover it. Say it from memory. Uncover it, check yourself, and repeat until it sticks. Old school, and it works.
Use a memorization app
A Scripture memory app puts the verse in your pocket and reminds you to review it. We use the Dwell app across Valor, and any verse memory app will do the job.
Attach simple movements
Tie a simple motion to each phrase. A vine, a branch, fruit. Your body remembers what your mind rehearses. This one is gold for kids, and for the rest of us too.
How to keep it
No one memorizes alone.
Say it out loud. Write it once a day. Let your group recite the week’s verse at every meeting. We will print it and post it. The whole church is holding the same word at the same time, and that is the point.
The wallpaper
Put the verse where your eyes already are.
John 15:1-5, the current stretch
You look at your phone dozens of times a day. Let the verse be the first thing you see. Download the wallpaper for the verses we are carrying right now, set it, and let repetition do its quiet work. New wallpapers drop as we move through the passage.
The year behind the challenge
One word for the whole year.
The John 15 Challenge is one piece of Here We Remain, Valor’s theme for the year ahead. The three movements, the fifth pillar, the covenant prayer, and the full preaching year are all on one page.
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Common questions
Questions people actually ask.
What translation are we memorizing?
The Christian Standard Bible (CSB), the translation Valor preaches from every Sunday. Memorizing the same wording together is what lets a whole room recite it as one.
What if I fall behind?
Go at the pace your season allows, but keep the finish line in view. A verse a week from now through the end of the year gets us there with room to spare, so there is margin built in. Pick up with this week’s verse and circle back.
I’m new to Valor. Can I still join?
Yes. Start with this week’s verse, download the wallpaper, and jump in. The whole point is that no one memorizes alone.