Can you be a faithful Christian and simply decide you don’t need the church?

In Season 2, Episode 6 of the Scripture Matters Podcast — “The Church Matters,” Jonathan Sanford and Cliff Thompson move beyond the familiar definitions and ask a much deeper question: Why does the church matter so much to Jesus Christ?

This conversation gets personal as Jonathan shares a painful childhood memory of repeatedly asking his father to come worship, only to hear, “I’m not going to worship with a bunch of hypocrites.” How should we respond when hypocrisy, disappointment, conflict, or the failures of Christians cause people to distance themselves from the church?

Jonathan and Cliff also examine a truth that changes the entire conversation: the church does not belong to us. It belongs to Christ. He purchased it with His blood, He alone is its Head, and His authority—not culture, personalities, human traditions, or religious organizations—must determine its identity, worship, doctrine, and mission.

The church is filled with imperfect people, but it belongs to a perfect Savior.

Before we dismiss the church because of what people have done to it, perhaps we need to strip away the layers we have added and see again the beauty of what Jesus purchased, Jesus loves, and Jesus still leads.

Because in 2026, perhaps more than ever...

The Church Matters.

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