Book Review: Radiant Church
“Perhaps we are pointing in the wrong direction. Maybe we ought to honestly and humbly look in the mirror and turn the finger back toward ourselves. Maybe it isn’t the post-Christian culture, and instead we have a post-Christian church. Maybe it’s time for us to look in the mirror, examine our hearts, and ask the Lord to show us where we’ve fallen short, confess, lament, and repent.”
Just 7 pages into Tara Beth Leach’s newest book and this quote stopped me in my tracks:
“Maybe it isn’t the post-Christian culture, and instead we have a post-Christian church.”
What does that even look like? And what would it mean if Leach is correct?
Throughout Radiant Church, Leach lays out the evidence of where the Christian Church’s witness has been damaged - and also a path forward in restoring the Bride of Christ to Her full beauty and Her active role in God’s mission in the world.
Radiant Church is a letter to the Christian Church of the West which calls us to come to terms with where we have fallen short (and are falling short) of our calling and invites us to step into the “radiant” presence of Christ which we are supposed to be reflecting back out to the world around us. Tara Beth Leach skillfully and humbly examines where the Church is falling short of God’s mission but also wraps every critique in pastoral grace and love while also providing a roadmap towards restoration.
Pulling from years of pastoral ministry experience, Leach paints a beautiful picture of what Jesus called the Church to be and then provides advice, Scriptural support, and examples of how Christians can be radiant in the 21st Century culture that we find ourselves in.
The way forward that Leach maps out for us includes Christian hospitality, vibrant and relationship-based evangelism and discipleship, active dependency on the Holy Spirit, and faith in “God’s postresurrection abundance.”
While definitely being a book of honest reflection, confession, lamentation, and repentance, Tara Beth Leach provides this book as a gift of hope to the Church as she presents a vision for the radiant future that is possible for the Bride of Christ. Radiant Church is a hope-filled, honest reflection of where we are, where we are called to go, and how we can allow the Holy Spirit to guide us into becoming an “unstoppable force” for the Kingdom of God.
Radiant Church is one of the best books I have read in the last several years, and it is one that I plan to gift to several friends whom I do not want to walk away from the Church - people that are needed in the Church. I could not recommend this book more highly and I encourage you to pick it up today.
Here are a few of my favorite - and most convicting! - quotes from the book:
“The bride of Christ must reimagine its posture in a rapidly changing context, returning to the biblical vision centered on the covenant people, community, and kingdom.”
“Throughout the story of God, we don’t see a vision for private pietism but holy people. Sure, it’s messy and flawed, but that’s the beauty of covenant togetherness.”
“Our story orients our purpose for living….We must understand that it’s possible to believe in Jesus and still be rooted in the wrong story.”
“It seems we have been more wrapped up in the ABC’s of empire (attendance, building, cash) than we have in participating in the mission of God.”
“As a covenant community in Christ, we don’t just randomly do salt-and-light kind of things; rather, we are salt and light.”
“While one star is certainly something to behold, a sky full of sparkling stars is stunning.”
“To live incarnationally is to tend to our neighbors as we tend to the presence of Jesus.”
In reflecting on this book (which I invite you once again to go buy!), I am reminded of the number one lesson that I learned while living in West Africa: Nous sommes ensemble. In English: We are together.
Our journeys are all intertwined and we need each other through both the highs and lows of life.
That, in my opinion, is the key message in this book.
In order to be the Radiant Church that Christ calls us to be, we need to engage in God’s mission - through the Holy Spirit’s power - together as a community.
As Tara Beth Leach would often share with her church in Pasadena:
“I need you. You need me. We need you. You need us.”
