Thanks to you, Issues et cetera consistently ranks among the top podcasts in religion and spirituality with Apple and Spotify podcasts.

Please help us reach more listeners in 2026 by making a year-end gift.

For a year-end donation of $240 or more, we'll send you our latest book, Objections Over Rule 4,

and a new recording of 15 hymns featuring

the Lutheran Public Radio Choir. You can make a secure online contribution at Issuesetc.org.

Thanks for listening, and thanks for your support. I'm Dr. Russell Dawn, president of Concordia

University Chicago, reminding you about the prepared-to-serve church-professional guarantee.

Any new student in one of CUC's six churchwork programs will pay no more than $5,000 in annual tuition and required fees, guaranteed.

Prepared to serve is a donor-funded initiative.

Support future churchwork students by becoming a funding partner at

cuchago.edu slash prepared to serve. Concordia University Chicago, with Christ at the center,

we stand tall for the church.

Why do Christians go to church?

One objection that we often hear, even from Christians, is that we don't really need to go to church.

We like to, maybe it's convenient to.

It serves some, oh, some not so important purpose in our lives, but it's not necessary to remain a Christian, to be a Christian, to go to church.

Is that true?

Welcome back to Issues, Et cetera.

I'm Todd Wilkin, joining us to talk about that objection to Christianity.

I don't need to go to church.

I have the Bible in nature.

Dr. Kirk Clayton,

...