Totally visible. Completely inaccessible. [Lessons from somewhere in TN 🤷🏻‍♂️]

Since Greg went gallivanting through Italy for sabbatical, I figured I’d do my best to one-up him.

Unless Morristown TN recently became one of the top tourist spots in the world… my attempt fell short…

But as I was driving along through this rather lovely small town in Tennessee, with picturesque forested mountains all around it, I looked to my left and noticed this architectural beauty.

You’re seeing that right: a four-story building with beautiful doors on every floor.

Either this is modern art, and I am just dense… or there’s something important missing.

Don’t get me wrong, great things are probably happening on those floors! There are most likely great people, there is healing to be had, learning to be done, transformation waiting to be unlocked…

But how is anyone supposed to get there?

Sure, you could throw a really strong ladder up every once in a while and try to shuffle some people through.

Sure, you can let them wander through the inside of the building and find their own way to the stairs, probably run into a locked door, but ultimately give up.

But that doesn’t change the fact that those doors are always totally visible, but completely inaccessible.

As I looked back at this picture, I started to wonder if many of our churches suffer from the same floating-door-syndrome.

There’s no doubt that church is complex — we’re serving a wide range of people who have different needs, are at different stages in their faith, and there are people starting fresh every single week.

But in response to that complexity, I know that I’ve found myself making the solutions just as complex as the challenge! But that only ends in confusion and inaction.

What life-changing ministries in your church are totally visible… but completely inaccessible?

• Are groups always listed on your website as a crucial next step, but only accessible 2-3 times a year at special launch times?

• Are you mentioning how important volunteer teams are, but burying the sign-up form in the app that they haven’t downloaded or taking 3 weeks to respond once they finally fill it out?

• Are you telling people when baptism Sunday is, how to sign up, but never thoroughly explaining what it is and why they should do it?

• Are your biggest life-change stories about programs or curricula, but are only offered twice a year and have limited space?

• Are you telling people how to give week after week or talking about tithing, but never sharing transparently about where their money goes or creating smaller steps to help people grow in generosity?

When you find a floating-fourth-floor-door-ministry in your church, I think there are two clear options:

➊ Hide those doors until you’re ready to use them.

Groups can still have big seasonal launches. You can do a church-wide push for volunteers before the school year starts. You can run a big campaign for whatever incredible experience you’re itching to get everyone through.

In fact, you probably should do all those things!

But what about the guests that show up any one of the other 30-odd weeks of the year?

If you’re not going to let them into the life-changing environments as soon as they’re ready for them (and again, some ministries really are seasonal or limited in scope!), don’t dangle them in front of guests… Don’t say “This thing will change your life… in 5 months 🤷🏻‍♂️”

And, it’s a pretty universal truth that when people have more options, they make fewer decisions.

Consider doing the extra, intentional work of hiding those doors for a while, and then get out the trumpets and invite people through when they’re ready for traffic.

➋ Build some equally visible stairs!

The doors on the outside of that building would make a lot more sense if someone built some really cool stairs to reach them.

And the reality is that when we don’t have highly visible next steps for guests to take as soon as they’re ready, it becomes less and less likely that they’ll ever take them.

We have to be ready to strike while the iron is hot so guests can make friends and find a part to play while their conviction is there! Otherwise they’ll settle into disengaged-consumer-mode forever, or worse… just drift away without anyone noticing.

That’s the special power of the “One Program” in the CTA Assimilation System — it helps you answer the question “how quickly must we provide a realistic and compelling onramp into our most life-changing environments?”

It’s not just a class or promotional experience: it’s an engaging experience in and of itself that’s worth it for people. It’s more than just a stepping stone or glorified commercial for the real life-changing stuff.

Even if your small groups or other ministries still only launch seasonally for now, you’ll be able to accelerate your guests’ movement toward a meaningful volunteer role (imagine around 1 out of 4 guests landing on a volunteer team!).

And you’ll be able to communicate specifically and personally to anyone who has attended your “One Program” so they don’t just get the blanket promo when it’s time to jump into those small groups or other ministries.

Overall, making sure you have “One Program to connect guests” will simplify your communication, increase engagement, and make it possible for guests to walk through those multi-level no-longer-floating doors!

TO CHEW ON WHILE WE CLIMB

• How long, on average, does it take our new guests to take the leap into a small group, onto a ministry team, or into another crucial discipleship environment?

• What ministries in your church are totally visible, but completely inaccessible? What are we talking about consistently, but not providing enough on-ramps into?

  • Which of them need to be hidden until the time is right?

  • Where do you need to build some stairs that anyone can use right now?

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On a survey we did once, we saw a really clear correlation:

churches that reported a strong “One Program” ALSO reported high small group and ministry team placements.

In short… they all built stairs, and it worked.

One of the best things Greg ever taught me is that assimilation isn’t just another ministry in the church. It’s the system that brings people TO the ministries of the church!

And honestly, the “One Program” is the heart of that system. Having a compelling, friendly, sticky experience that can catch guests early, help them find some friends, and make an informed decision about how to be a real part of your church family is what can make all your other ministries function at a higher level!

So how’s your “One Program”? Is it totally visible and completely accessible?

Your “One Program” could be the game-changer that your ministries are waiting for, and the CTA Video Course will help you get started.

The Video Course includes…

• 20+ downloadable resources for you to steal and use

• discussion questions for you to digest with your team

• lifetime access to all future updates

• a free coaching session to use at any time during the course

• 3 months access to the Sherpa Coaching Community!