That's definitely my favorite question I've been asked at VBS this year. Hanging with the kids is always so much fun. They're full of questions, and almost always they are very sincere and innocent when they ask them. God gave me quick grace to answer the little girl's question. I responded, "No honey, this church belongs to Jesus."
But a little later, I started thinking about my answer to the little girl's question. Did I answer her honestly? Can we genuinely say that this church belongs to Jesus? Of course, the church does belong to our Savior. He said in Matt. 16:18, "On this rock I will build MY church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it." No doubt - the church belongs to Jesus.
So then, I guess we've got to answer the question, "Is this group of people really a part of Christ's church?" The church is the Body of Christ, and we know that we become a member of Christ's body at the very moment we place our faith in Him. All that is pretty elementary stuff, but what we need to determine is if we're acting like we belong to Jesus.
I'm convinced that if we belong to Jesus, we'll start doing what He says. So what did Christ tell us to do? He instructed us to do many things, but the last marching orders He left us with were these: "Go and make disciples" (Matt. 28:19). The last thing Christ wanted His church to know before He left this earth for heaven was "go and make disciples."
So back to that little girl's question. Does the church I pastor really belong to Jesus? Does the church you attend really belong to Jesus? There's a sure-fire way to find out. How many disciples are we making? How many unchurched people are we reaching? God help us all to answer these questions and to make sure that our churches belong to Christ.
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