Chattanooga, Tennessee

Receiving Him.
Participating with Him.
Loving Him. Together.

A church learning to see, receive, and embody God in the whole of life — marriages, work, money, kitchens, friendship, rest.

Sundays
4:00 – 6:00 pm, then dinner
DGroups
Thursdays, 6:00 – 8:00 pm
Where
7302 Fay Avenue, Chattanooga
If you're new, read this first

You can come in quietly and just be here.

Nobody will make you stand up, introduce yourself, or fill anything out. You can sit in the back, leave when you need to, and wear whatever you already have on.

We gather for about two hours: singing, prayer, Scripture taught plainly, communion, and space to respond. Then we eat together — that part is not extra. The table is where most of us actually got known.

We're small. That means you'll be noticed, but you won't be hunted. Here's exactly what to expect →

Sunday, 4:00 pm

Worship, Word, and prayer

Warm before polished. Songs you can actually sing, teaching that lands by Monday morning, and people who will pray with you if you want it.

Sunday, 6:00 pm

Then we eat

Every week, a meal after the gathering. Bring nothing. Stay as long as you like. This is the easiest door into this family.

For families

Your kids are the church

Not babysitting while the adults do ministry. Two adults in the room always, clear check-in and pickup, allergies written down.

How we see

Every good gift is a window. It only becomes a wall when we ask it to be God.

Window

A gift stays transparent. Money shows us God provides. Marriage shows us God loves. Work shows us God gives purpose. Friends show us God welcomes. You can see through it to Him.

Wall

The same gift goes opaque. It stops pointing and starts replacing — carrying your identity, your security, your worth. Still good in itself. Working wrongly in the heart.

The question

What am I really asking this thing to give me? What am I afraid to lose? We call it the thing behind the thing, and most of our discipleship happens there.

Plainly

What we refuse

You should know what we are not building before you decide to come.

Hype without formation.
Growth that outruns health.
Religious language that avoids honesty.
Excellence that creates hidden exhaustion.
Friendliness without true belonging.
Preaching that impresses but does not shepherd.
Thursdays, 6–8 pm

DGroup is where Sunday becomes personal

We meet in homes to take the week's teaching further — where it found you, what's underneath it, and what obedience looks like before next Thursday. Then we pray for each other by name.

Not a second sermon. Not forced vulnerability. A room where you can be honest and still be held.

The people carrying this

Michael Pope
Lead Pastor
Lexa Pope
Lead Pastor
Daniel Brewster
Associate Pastor
Maggie Brewster
Associate Pastor
Our city

A rooted, faithful presence in Chattanooga — not loud for attention, not hidden from fear.

In neighborhoods, workplaces, homes, and schools. Love that people can actually see.

Generosity

Money is one of the clearest windows we have

Giving here is not a transaction and not a pressure. It's a practice that keeps saying the true thing: God provides. Every dollar goes to people, kids, the table, and the work of this church in this city.

One-time or monthly · takes about a minute
Vision & culture

Imago exists to cultivate a family of disciples who receive God into every part of life.

Participating with Him in ordinary obedience, and loving Him together in a way that makes His kingdom visible. This is not a brochure. It's a plumb line — and we'd rather you read it before you join us.

Receiving Him

God is the source before we are the workers. Grace is not a slogan. He gives Himself, provides, welcomes, loves. We respond because we have received.

Participating with Him

We join what He is doing rather than asking Him to bless what we built in our own strength. Insight becomes obedience: we pray, apologize, give, invite, serve, rest, forgive.

Loving Him together

Formation happens in a body, not in isolated spiritual consumers. Not merely greeted, but known. Not merely inspired, but formed.

The framework

Windows, not walls

Many people aren't rejecting God outright. They just can't see Him in the actual materials of their lives, so they treat His gifts as threats or as replacements.

This frees you from two errors: fearfully refusing good gifts, and blindly clinging to them. Receive with gratitude. Surrender with trust.

Gift
As a window
As a wall
Freedom practice
Money
God provides
Security, control, identity
Give, budget, obey with resources
Marriage
God loves covenantally
Rescue, emotional salvation
Receive love without demanding they be God
Work
God gives purpose
Worth, escape, control
Work faithfully and rest as trust
Friendship
God welcomes and includes
Approval, fear of rejection
Honest presence without performance
Calling
God invites participation
Significance, ego
Obey quietly, release outcomes
Pastoral posture

The thing behind the thing

Behavior change alone can make a person more disciplined without making them more free. So we go looking for the root.

What am I really asking this thing to give me?
What pain am I trying not to feel?
What future am I trying to control?
What identity am I trying to secure?
What would I be terrified to lose?
And where is God meeting me underneath all of it?
Appendix H, published on purpose

What Imago refuses

Hype without formation.
Growth that outruns health.
Religious language that avoids honesty.
Prophetic expression without humility.
Excellence that creates hidden exhaustion.
Friendliness without true belonging.
Systems that serve image instead of people.
Preaching that impresses but does not shepherd.
Warm before polished.
Simple before impressive.
Formation before performance.
Clear is kind.

The dream is not simply that Imago would grow. The dream is that Imago would become a people whose whole lives reveal the God they have received.

Pastors & elders

Leadership here is shepherding before management.

These are the people you can call, eat with, and be honest with. They carry the vision by staying close to the actual condition of the church.

Michael Pope

Lead Pastor

Michael preaches most Sundays and spends most of his week in conversations that never make it into a sermon. He is after the thing behind the thing — the fear, the hunger, the false provider underneath the behavior — and he'd rather ask you a hard question kindly than leave you with religious fog.

Imago.pope@gmail.com

Lexa Pope

Lead Pastor

Lexa notices the person before the task. She carries the warmth of this house — the welcome, the table, the remembering of names — and she is usually the reason a nervous first-time guest ends up staying for dinner and coming back.

Imago.pope@gmail.com

Daniel Brewster

Associate Pastor

Daniel helps ordinary faithfulness actually happen — DGroups that go somewhere, volunteers who know what they're doing, prayer that names real things. Steady, unhurried, and hard to impress with hype.

Maggie Brewster

Associate Pastor

Maggie cares for families and children as full members of this church, not an interruption to it. If you're a parent walking in for the first time, she's the one who will tell you exactly how Sunday works for your kid.

Want to talk to a pastor?

No agenda, no membership required. Call, text, or email — a real person answers.

318-364-9981
7302 Fay Avenue, Chattanooga, TN 37421
Plan your visit

Here's exactly what will happen.

Knowing the shape of the afternoon is most of what makes a first visit easy. So, plainly:

When
Sundays, 4:00 – 6:00 pm
Where
7302 Fay Avenue
Chattanooga, TN 37421
After
Dinner together — you're invited
The afternoon

Two hours, and then a meal

3:50
Arrive

Park out front. Someone will say hello and show you where things are, including the kids room. That's it — no clipboard, no name tag.

4:00
Worship

A handful of songs. Sing, sit, or just listen. Nothing is asked of you.

4:30
Teaching from Scripture

Around 35–40 minutes. Clear enough for a tired parent, deep enough if you're hungry, and specific enough to do something with on Monday.

5:20
Response, communion, prayer

Space to pray, be prayed for, or sit quietly. Take communion if you want to; nobody counts.

6:00
Dinner

Stay. Really. Bring nothing. Leave whenever you need to.

Coming with kids

Two adults in the room whenever possible. Check-in and pickup are clear. We write down allergies and we ask before helping with the bathroom.

Kids are welcome to stay in the room with you too. Noise doesn't bother us.

What to wear

Whatever you have on. Some of us come from work. Nobody is going to look at your shoes.

Coming alone

Text 318-364-9981 before you come and one of us will meet you at the door so you don't have to walk in cold.

Got it

We'll see you Sunday.

Someone will reach out within a day or two — a real person, not an automated sequence. If you'd rather just show up unannounced, that's completely fine too.

Tell us you're coming

Optional, but it helps

We'll watch for you and save you a seat at dinner.

Gather

The church is not an event with relationships attached.

It's a people sharing life around Jesus. Here's how that actually happens week to week — and how to step in without having to become a different kind of person first.

Sundays, 4–6 pm

The gathering

Worship, Scripture, communion, prayer, and dinner after. The hearth where the whole family shows up.

Thursdays, 6–8 pm

DGroups

In homes. We take Sunday's teaching further, name what's underneath it, pray specifically, and choose one obedience for the week.

Ask about joining one
All week

Serving

Kids, worship, hospitality, setup, meals. You'll get a clear role, a real schedule, and a person to call — never a guilt trip.

Tell us you're in
Coming next

A place to keep talking between Sundays

Three rooms, members only: the whole church, your DGroup, and announcements from the pastors. Built so nothing important lives only in a group text.

The Table
Church-wide conversation — prayer, questions, everyday life
Soon
Your DGroup
Private to your group, tied to this week's prompt
Soon
Announcements
From the pastors — read-only, so it stays signal
Soon
Give

God provides. Giving is how we keep saying it out loud.

Money is one of the clearest windows we have. When it stays a window, it reveals God as Provider. When it becomes a wall, it starts carrying our security and our identity. Generosity is the practice that keeps the glass clean.

So: no guilt, no pressure, no thermometer graphics. If you're new here, please don't give yet — just come eat with us.

Where it goes
Kids ministry, the weekly meal, worship, care for people in crisis, and the ordinary cost of the room
Other ways
In person on Sunday, or mail to 7302 Fay Avenue, Chattanooga, TN 37421
Give online
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