Hey, friends, welcome back to another episode of Theology and Raw. My guest today is Jonathan Griffith,

who is a pastor of Metropolitan Bible Church in Ottawa, Canada. He also leads to counter the truth,

a media ministry that broadcasts on radio and podcasts across the U.S. and Canada. In his recent book,

Gather for Good, God's Good Design for the Local Church. He addresses the need for in-person gatherings.

Okay, so that's the topic of our conversation. Can you be a Christian and not go to church? Which is what we open up, the question

we open up with in this conversation. And that led us down to all kinds of different topics

related to local church, local church involvement, ministry, and so on and so forth.

So please welcome to the show for the first time.

The one or only, Jonathan Griffiths.

Hey, Jonathan.

Welcome to Theolog and Arra.

I have a question for you.

Can someone be a Christian and not go to church?

I get this question all the time.

I would love to hear how you would respond to that.

Oh, thanks, Preston. Great to be with you.

I mean, it's a question I hear too, and it's an interesting one. And, you know,

on one level, do we need to attend church to be saved? Is that what the Bible says? Well, no, I don't

think so. We need to trust in the Lord Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins to be saved. But having

done that, why would we not want to be part of his family and part of his community? And why would we not

want to be investing ourselves in serving his people? If we've been bought at a price, we want to be

asking, well, how do I serve the Lord Jesus and his people? And I look to the pages of his word,

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