SQ3R

What kinda title is that?

It's called S-Q-3-R (Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review)

This is a form of reading for retention that I learned in college. It's simply a tool used to help study material and retain information.

A link to the method as described by the Hokies of Virginia Tech is found here.

Basically the concept is to step through a process which will help you form memory.

I've been looking at a similar process within our church. We've been flat lately and it's time to shock the system. Along with our leadership team I've started the process...

Survey- Look at things in an overview format. In the case of a book, it's just skimming the text to get familiar. In the case of our church, I've spent the last few weeks taking a look at different areas of the ministry and how we function each weekend. Just getting familiar with aspects I personally do not normally inspect.

Question- Generate questions about what you just surveyed. With a book you may ask yourself some basic questions you want answered in each chapter. The reason is that it will give your mind something to consider instead of just glancing over the words. In the case of the church you will question "WHY" do we do that?" "WHAT" is a better way ?" "How can we improve on this?"

3-R (Read, Recite, Review)

Read- Get into the text. This is usually where we start. In ministry this would be where we also usually start. We jump in and start doing 'stuff'.

Recite- Say it out loud. Ask yourself the questions you had at the beginning. In ministry this is the proverbial "time out". A friend recently told me about how they used to have several forms for check-in with preschool. During a "recite" moment when he hypothetically checked in his child, he asked "Why does a guest have to fill this much out?" Can we fix this? The next week the 3 forms had been combined to 1.

Review- In reading and in ministry we need to review our systems. Most of the time our systems will begin to get loose or stale. It may be a people problem (they get lax) or it may be a system problem (it no longer fits the size, location, timing, etc.)


Regardless of what system you use... be sure to work as much ON your ministry as you do IN it. We can so easily get caught up in the week to week life of ministry that we miss out on the various things that are falling apart around us. Put yourself in position to see what your guests see. It will make a huge difference in the quality of ministry you provide for those seeking out the things of God.