What is the Church?
The Church is all believers in the one true God, Old and New Testament. It includes all believers around the world and in heaven. God gathers His believers around His Word and Sacraments here on earth, just as He gathers all believers in heaven in the marriage feast of the Lamb. Wherever believers gather around Word and Sacrament, the Church is gathered.
How is that acknowledged in our worship?
We gather as believers, trusting the promise that Christ is in our midst. We confess that we join our worship with our fellow believers around the world and in heaven. The Church is not the building, but the believers gathered in it.
What does the Bible say about the Church?
She is the body of Christ and the Bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:23-27). She is founded by Christ (Matthew 16:15-19), and on Christ (Ephesians 2:19-22). She is made up of individual believers (1 Peter 2:1-10). She includes both the believers on earth (1 Corinthians 1:1-3) and the saints in heaven (Revelation 7:9-17).
Suggestions
You may want to take your family through the section of the Small Catechism on the Church. You may also want to sing the following hymns from LSB, 644, 645, 655, 676, 677.
Object Lesson
Find building blocks or Lincoln Logs, anything small that you can build a small church-like structure with. As you build, explain that God builds individual believers into His Church. The Church is not a building, but those believers who He brought together (in heaven and on earth) into His Church.
Prayer
Preserve in wave and tempest Your storm-tossed little flock; assailed by wind and weather, may it endure each shock. Stand at the helm, our pilot, and set the course aright; then we will reach the harbor in Your eternal light. Amen.