A Loving Letter to my Unchurched Friends

Dear unchurched friend,

I know every story is different. Some of you have been hurt. Others have been disappointed. Some are simply drifting. And yet, many of you share a common conviction—something like, “I don’t need the church; I just need Jesus.”

I get the appeal. It sounds spiritual. Who wouldn’t want Jesus without the messiness of people, institutions, or church politics? But as someone who genuinely loves you, I need to tell you: this belief, though common, is not only unbiblical—it’s deeply harmful.

You cannot have Christ and reject His Body. You cannot claim to love the Head while cutting yourself off from His limbs. It’s a contradiction. And more than that—it’s dangerous.

When God saves someone, He does not merely grant a personal relationship with Jesus. He adopts them into a covenant family. Salvation is not just about you and Jesus—it’s about us in Jesus. As Paul writes, “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body” (1 Corinthians 12:13). That body is the Church.

Many have unknowingly embraced a version of Christianity shaped more by Western individualism than by the Bible. But this is foreign to Scripture and to the historic Christian faith. In fact, you should not assume to be a Christian without the affirmation of a true local church. It is to the church—not to the individual—that Jesus gave the authority to affirm or deny professions of faith (Matthew 18:17–20).

Even the Greek word koinonia, often translated “fellowship,” doesn’t mean chatting over coffee or attending a Bible study at Starbucks. It refers to a deep, Spirit-formed participation in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ—together. We share one salvation, one Spirit, one Table, and one eternal hope.

Now, you might say, “Well, I’m part of the universal Church—I don’t need a specific local church.” But that’s a false dichotomy. The local church is not a lesser version of the universal church. It is its visible, gathered expression in time and space. Just as an invisible soul is made visible in a body, so the universal church is seen and lived out in local congregations. The local church is not an optional add-on—it is the ordinary means by which Christ feeds, sanctifies, and sends His people.

Friend, consider even our future hope: Jesus is not returning for a scattered group of individuals. He is coming for His Bride—a people, a body, a temple, a Church. To reject the Church is to reject what Christ calls His own.

And so, in love, I plead with you: You don’t just need “Jesus.”

You need His people. You need His Church—because He gave Himself for her (Ephesians 5:25). To belong to Christ is to belong to His Body.

Please, find a healthy, gospel-preaching church. Join it. Be known. Be accountable. Be loved. And love others back.

With sincere affection,

Nino