tim dally

lead pastor at the the discovery church

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1.  what is your understanding of a pomo ministry?

it might be the difference between peter on pentecost and paul in athens and the fact that there are different methods in different places.  being agile/sensitive to postmodern realities is being sensitive not only to varying textures of context but to the holy spirit's presence and power as in acts.  the church was exploding and different methods were used in different places as the spirit-driven church got serious about the commission. the message, which was at the core the same in both places, was shared under the influence in differing ways.  pomo ministry is a way the holy spirit may work thru us in a given context.  i guess the key is to stay in step...suddenly you are doing the pomo...and on a good day you surprise people.

2.  what makes discovery church different from other churches in the area?

 
barna suggests from his study that most of the church growth taking place (80%) is a migration from one church to another.  at discovery we try very hard to intrigue and  attract those who are novices at faith, we have attempted to be intentional at creating something to surprise the 80-90% "unchurched" in our area.  i guess after years in ministry i don't think most churches are that interested in finding "lost people."  we would have a conservative theology like others but an intentional creative methodology...and sometimes that scares the other churches who confuse their traditions with what is essential in the gospel (sometimes that is how we measure the value of an idea, if the 'usual' church is caught off guard).  at the same time we are not strategically trying to be different--just relevant...unfortunately that sometimes looks different and that scares some people.  the more they are scared the more they don't understand.  i think sometimes we make the other churches a little nervous.  i remember when churched people try to figure us out they usually ask are we a willow model, a saddleback model, a chapel model, a denominational model of some sort, and they are always surprised when we don't aspire to 'copy' these models of varying success so they can put us in a box.  we might be influenced but we are most excited at what might be created new right here right now...the next chapter of acts.  besides all those models are old ideas that have worked yesterday and we want to create what works next.

3.  what does discovery mean by being 'culturally relevant'?

 
being like missionaries in a post christian culture where people do not have the language, the habits, the memory of faith any longer.  we study the shape, color, texture of our area and try to find ways to connect with these features.  study the terrain.  pray over the city. get inside the sociology.  take the psychology of the neighborhood for a test drive.  relevance is our partnership with God plus the place where our efforts-methods connect with people, where they are at that point.  i believe god is at work even before we arrived and as a church we try to partner with him in what he is doing to be his witness.  in a foreign place where we are strangers and aliens we bring the gospel to a culture that is unfamiliar and needs to be loved, mentored, challenged and convinced. the old assumptions we once worked with are not there any more.  we think a lot about 'contextualization', the 'translation' of the gospel to this culture here in colorado.  if i was somewhere else it would look and feel and sound and taste and smell different.  we are a paradoxical relationship of little kinship with the world, but we know hope and invite others into the alternative, to come with us discovering jesus and the journey.

4.  what does discovery do to reach out to a pomo-gen?

 
wholistic experience--with all the heart, mind, soul, and strength--the texture of the experience of god and the dna of our faith community...we try to be aware of how we might partner with god to create nothing less than authentic faith.
art that connects--we try to use experience forms that function best, customized to the people we are attempting to reach.  i like to think of texture here as a forgotten component of what we create.  sometimes this is as easy as being aware of all senses as we strategize.

 
celebrating what we know and what we don't know--we know we don't have all the answers but we do know which direction to embrace the truth--which is always bigger and more mysterious than we often like to admit.  i hate it when we can make it all sound so easy and predictable with formulas and laws as if we have mastered the eternal.  on the other hand i believe there are some things we can know, can personally know, because it is reasonable to believe and has proved to be a better answer than the alternatives.

 
relationships--doing life together is  where we learn the language, habits, and experience something eternal now.  it is in life together we are the church,  the living and breathing incarnation of being jesus in this world and that is still an important connecting point with those outside. for example, we do worship in the round and that is a different experience from the usual architectural form of our churches and we also  take at least a five minute greeting break right now where  people can hug and introduce themselves or grab some more coffee and that in the worship time reflects the value in a practical way.

 
i'll stop there...except to say that some features of any cultural context will have to be addressed and the experience of god is so big it can  encounter every context with success, it connects with every life where it needs to find hope.

5.  imagery, not image, is central to a pomo understanding of the world, what do you do to bring imagery to the people?

 
we have fun creating images for the experiences, working with themes and ways to cement a truth visually.  it may be a logo, a vocabulary, an object for a sermon, a visual for a worship theme.  len sweet is right people think in images so that influences how to present truth in a way that impacts.  i enjoy this.  it is another way the church needs artists again.  an icon is remembered better than the "ten truths..." on a power point presentation.  sometimes i just use one picture the whole time i share a message or we put a potters wheel in the center and i stand there and talk about an artist named jehovah who shapes our lives into a masterpiece...

6.  there is a big concern that most, if not all, seminaries are producing people who are qualified to minister to a dead church (modern) not a new church (pomo)...how do you feel  seminary, if at all, helped you get ready for discovery church?

 
there is some merit to the concern.  this is obvious to me when i try to find staff that understand, right now i am looking for a worship/arts pastor and one that is not only gifted but 'gets it."  we are already behind as usual still arguing the details of pomo in classrooms.  i valued my experience but did not rely on seminary to learn what i need to know.  i did learn to be a learner, a life long learner and in my studies i had teachers who knew pomo was coming...i actually pray for the schools because i just don't know.  i do think some are trying hard.  maybe the best and brightest will not come out of that environment.  maybe it is not the best way to become.

 
i personally don't think modern will vanquish because pomo is here ot stay, whatever pomo is or will become, pomo is a correction i think to the extremes of modernity.  i imagine there will continue to be modern and postmodern in various states of life in various places,a nd churches will reflect this.  culture is fluid, it is a moving target for the church.  i think it will be even more layered in the future, more varied than simplified in my lifetime. i see it getting broader and complex rather than one worldview replacing the other the way you change channels with a remote. balance and agility and discernment is what i pray for-to win as many as possible.

7.  how do you see small groups fitting into the future of pomo churches.

 
critical.  life together is eternal and can be experienced now.  god is a small group and we are a church of relationships.  i think the world is hungry for something real as it is tending to fragment, unable to find something as deep as agape.  we are a part of the answer.