This list gives you Bible verses to read, share and pray on a church anniversary, whether you are planning the celebration, speaking at it, or simply marking the years with your congregation. The verses below were chosen because they hold together gratitude for what God has done, honest memory of the way through, and confident hope for the next season. Each one points the church back to the faithfulness of God rather than to its own record.
Verses for Giving Thanks for the Years Behind Us
Anniversaries invite a look backward, and looking back can produce pride or tiredness. These verses turn that look into thanksgiving, reminding the congregation that every year of ministry rests on God’s steady goodness, not on programs or personalities.
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.
Psalm 107:1 (WEB)
Psalm 107:1
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.
(WEB)
This short line is a plain call to thank God because he is good and his love does not run out. Read it aloud before the anniversary service begins, and let the first thing said from the front be thanks rather than achievement.
Psalm 136:1
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his loving kindness endures forever.
(WEB)
The psalm repeats its refrain again and again, which suits a church that has walked through many different seasons. Consider having the congregation answer together with the same words after each reading of a short history.
Lamentations 3:22-23
22 It is because of the LORD’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassion doesn’t fail. 23 They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
(WEB)
Written by a people who had lost nearly everything, these lines find fresh mercy every morning. A church that has known loss as well as growth can take real comfort here, and can name the mercies of each year without pretending the hard years were easy.
Verses for Remembering How God Has Carried Us
Every congregation has a story of brokenness, failed plans and unexpected provision. These passages help a church remember honestly, trusting that the God who led them through the wilderness is still the one walking with them now.
Deuteronomy 8:2
You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or not.
(WEB)
Moses told Israel to remember the long road God had led them along. For an anniversary, this suggests a simple practice: invite a few older members to name one moment when God was clearly at work, and let younger members hear it.
Joshua 4:6-7
6 That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask in the future, saying, ‘What do you mean by these stones?’ 7 then you shall tell them, ‘Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the LORD’s covenant. When it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever.’”
(WEB)
The stones at Gilgal were set up as a memorial so that future generations would ask what they meant. A church anniversary can be a stone-setting moment, perhaps a display of photographs or a written timeline that prompts the question and invites the answer.
Psalm 77:11
I will remember Yah’s deeds; for I will remember your wonders of old.
(WEB)
The psalmist deliberately recalls the deeds of the Lord when his own heart is discouraged. Use this verse as a personal prayer for leaders who feel weary, reminding them to look back at God’s record before they decide what the next year will hold.
Verses for Hope and Faithfulness in the Years Ahead
An anniversary is also a doorway into the future. These verses point the church forward, trusting God’s plans, his presence and his promise to finish what he has started among his people.
Philippians 1:6
Being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.
(WEB)
Paul writes that the one who began a good work will carry it on to completion. This is a confident word for a congregation to hear at its milestone, because the work did not start with its members and will not end with them either.
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,” says the LORD, “thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future.
(WEB)
God spoke these words to exiles who could not see their own future. Read this verse with a church that feels uncertain about what comes next, and let it steady the congregation toward hope rather than toward a promised outcome.
Isaiah 43:19
Behold, I will do a new thing. It springs out now. Don’t you know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
(WEB)
The Lord announces that he is doing a new thing, even when it is hard to perceive. A congregation might ask one another what new thing they sense God doing, writing answers on cards to keep for the next anniversary.
Hebrews 13:8
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
(WEB)
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever, which means the church’s ground has not shifted even as its buildings, leaders and members have changed. Use this verse to close the anniversary service, sending people out with the steadiness of Christ in view.
How to Use These Verses
Choose three or four of these passages rather than all fifteen at once, so that each one has room to land. Print them on a card for the anniversary program, or put one verse on the screen during each part of the service. Ask a reader from the congregation to read each passage aloud instead of a single leader reading them all, so that the church hears its own voices in the Word.
Pray the verses back to God as you prepare. Turn Psalm 107:1 into a thanksgiving prayer over the leadership, or read Philippians 1:6 over the people who will serve in the coming year. Keep the card afterward, so that the next anniversary can begin by reading what God said the last time the church gathered to remember him.
A Short Prayer for Church Anniversaries
Lord, we come together to remember the years you have given us as a church. Thank you for every faithful person who has prayed, served, taught and welcomed others in your name. Where we have been weak, carry us, and where we have been glad, make us grateful. Help us look back without pride and forward without fear, trusting that you who began this work will finish it. Keep us rooted in your unchanging love, and let the next season show again that you are good. Amen.
