May 2, 2025
Dear Radiant,
We start a new teaching series this Sunday and it is a really daunting one….allow me a short, kind of nerdy digression to explain.
A widely respected (and Christian) sociologist Christian Smith writes about the continuing decline of the church in the United States in his new book, Why Religion Went Obsolete: The Demise of Traditional Faith in America.
Based on decades of research, Smith’s thesis is basically that people have found faith to irrelevant to their lives. It is not so much that people have deeply held philosophical disagreements about Christian belief, they just don’t see the point of church anymore.
Smith uses the word “obsolescence” to describe people’s attitude toward the church. That is, many folks think of church as obsolete, outdated, and no longer practical — like choosing a landline phone in the age of the smartphone.
In a time of church scandal, cover-ups, and general institutional distrust, Smith sees this decline only accelerating. Why would anyone choose the church when they can self-select a spiritual buffet in the ever abundant spiritual content at their fingertips?
Added to this (this is my thesis, not Smith’s), one way the church has responded to this crisis of decline has been to try to be “relevant.” The church has tried to compete with the marketplace of entertaining options by becoming, well, more entertaining.
The ideal church then goes for a sort of “Coldplay and a Ted Talk” experience to draw in anti-institutional American spiritual consumers.
While the churches best at “relevance” may provide some short term results I wonder if this will this really stem the decline of the church? Are even we supposed to be playing this sort of game?
Here’s my question and it is somewhat counter-intuitive: what if instead of trying to make the church easier, we were supposed to make it harder?
Don’t hear me wrong — it is not about our works, it is about grace. But what if God’s free and wildly poured out grace in Jesus Christ was actually a call for us to wildly pour out our lives to him? What if the beauty of Jesus compelled radical obedience? What if doesn’t really work any other way?
What if Jesus was serious when he said:
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.” (Matthew 16:24-25) ?
Something deep within our souls longs for this. We won’t be satisfied with consuming slick Sunday programming just like we won’t be satisfied with soul crushing legalistic religion. Instead we are called to an epic relational adventure together because of this “Love so amazing so divine [that it] Demands my soul my life my all.”
The words of C.S. Lewis resonate here:
“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
Here’s what I want you to hear clearly: you are invited by Jesus to a way of life in him. It is an invitation to infinite joy. This is why Radiant exists as a church — to invite people into the way of Jesus and learn how to live that life together for the good of Modesto and the world. In other words: we make disciples of Jesus.
Certainly we have much to learn about how to do this in our weird day and age, but we know this: He is the only one worthy of our desires.
This Sunday we begin a new teaching series that gets to the core of our vision and mission as a community: we call it practicing the simple way of Jesus.
So tie your shoelaces up (maybe double knots) and see you Sunday at 10AM!
EVENTS CALENDAR
5/2-4 – Men’s Conference at Mission Springs
5/7 – Men’s Gathering 6-7AM
5/11 – Mother’s Day Pastries after church
5/13 – Youth Modesto Nut’s Game
6/3 – Home Church leader, Missional Entrepreneurs Gathering 6:30-8PM ELC
6/12 – Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Course begins 6:30-8PM ELC
7/25 – All church Lake Day at Lake McClure Splash and Dash
MEN’S GATHERING THIS WEDNESDAY
Men – you are up! This Wednesday from 6-7AM at ELC Fellowship Hall.
MOTHER’S DAY PASTRIES – SUNDAY, MAY 11.
Next Sunday is Mother’s Day! We are honoring Mom’s and all women by providing some pastries and fresh fruit for after service next Sunday. Guys, this is on us! We’ll have a sign-up sheet this Sunday — or you can email me [email protected] and tell me what you are bringing.
RADIANT YOUTH EVENTS
Disc Golf Day is locked in for May 17 from 11 AM to 1 PM at the Shelter Cove disc golf course with professional disc golfer Josh Purney! It’s open to all 6th–12th graders. Excited for a fun time outside!
Sign up here for more information on our Radiant Youth gatherings.
HOME CHURCH LEADERS/ MISSIONAL ENTREPRENEURS INTEREST MEETING JUNE 3RD.
As this season of Home Church wraps up, we are inviting those interested in exploring Home Church leading or leading another group to come to a discernment/ interest meeting on June 3rd from 6:30-8PM at ELC. This is a time to begin learning discernment on what the Spirit might be inviting you into for the 2025-2026 school year. No commitment required — just let Zach if you are interested [email protected]
EMOTIONALLY HEALTH SPIRITUALITY – COMING THIS JUNE.
Peter Scazzero writes “emotional health and spiritual maturity are inseparable. It is not possible to be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature.” Emotionally Healthy Spirituality is an invitation to flourish in Christ as we consider what is going on “under the surface” in our lives. This is a 8 week course that will meet on Thursdays beginning June 12 and end on July 31. Sign up here to indicate interest and we will be in touch. If you’ve completed the course — I’ve done it many times — consider taking it again: there are always new things to discover.
BAND APP
One way to connect at Radiant is to join our BAND APP group. Think of this as a sort of Radiant message board — our own little social media space. People can extend invites, share about needs and opportunities.
GIVING
Thank you for your generosity and partnership in Radiant’s ministry!
Here’s the link to online giving.
Grace and Peace!
Zach
[email protected]
209-497-3710
www.radcov.org
