Happy Birthday!

  -   August 19, 2024

Today is August 19, 2024, 6 years to the day since River Community Church held it’s first public Sunday gathering in West Jordan, Utah. While it’s appropriate to celebrate this wonderful milestone, it was not the beginning of our church’s story.

Before our launch, we held many public community interest meetings, and had even more home church gatherings in Utah County and Salt Lake County before that.

You see, a local church usually begins as a faith-filled idea in someone’s heart. For me (Keith), I developed a deep desire in 2016 to see God grow a thriving community of believers who would bring His “Rivers of Living Water” to the “desert” places of people’s hearts in Utah. It took 2 and a half years from that initial vision for River Community Church until it sprang up publicly, and I am thankful for God’s timing in how He has worked to bring River to we are today.

Utah’s landscape is the perfect visible backdrop to the invisible condition of many of our residents lives. It’s truly a dry spiritual desert lacking in Biblical faith, hope, and love that is found in simply following, believing and knowing the Lord, Jesus Christ.

Yes, Utah is a very religious place. The predominant faith community in Utah has it’s spiritual and doctrinal centers in the cities of Salt Lake and Provo. The teachings, morals, and ethics of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints have a profoundly deep impact on Utah’s culture in so many ways. Approximately 55% of Utah residents identify as it’s members. In fact, Utah is the most religious state in the USA, with over 50% of the population attending a religious service at least once per week.

There are many more interesting details about religion in Utah. THE most fascinating religious demographic in Utah to me is “Unaffiliated” at 22%. This group is also called “The Nones” and represents those with no religious background or disaffiliated from any religious label.

What matters to me about this 22% is that they are not “The Nones” to God. Religious outsiders, outcasts, and outliers are seen and loved by God, more than we could ever imagine. The Bible says that God’s desire is for “all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:4)

As we say often at River, “all means all” and that includes the religious, the spiritual, and the nones. I believe God also desires that ALL Christians would have a deep desire to see ALL people have the opportunity to meet Jesus for themselves, which happens when we live and share the Gospel in our daily lives.

When we launched River, we communicated a vision “to see God’s Kingdom grow One Heart at a Time by encouraging as many people as possible to become thriving followers of Jesus whose lives overflow with faith, hope, and love.” We will do our best to walk in this vision, fulfilling the Great Commission of Jesus to “Make Disciples of All Nations” with consistency, patience, and the power of the Holy Spirit working through us.

While I don’t know what the next 6 years or 56 years of River Community Church looks like, it’s exciting to think of how many people we can actually reach before Jesus returns or calls us home. If the Lord hasn’t returned in 56 years, I’ll be 100 years old, and still plan on doing what I can to reach more people.

So, to all who have been a part of River’s story up until now, I am very humbled and grateful for your support, encouragement, and investment in our local church. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for believing in God’s work at River. You are God’s gift to us.

May God bless you and may God be glorified in all of us as we live for Him day by day.

Simply Following Jesus,

Keith Radke, pastor
River Community Church

For you research nerds, here are my references.
If you would like to talk more about reaching the people of Utah, email me at KeithRadke@RiverUtah.church
I’d love to hear from you!

 

Originally Published as a Church Email Newsletter on August 19, 2024
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