The Answerer

God, His Father in heaven, planned for Jesus to be here on earth only for a short while.

Why?

Well, Jesus home is in heaven and He had to leave us because His time was up. He is busy preparing a place for us in heaven!

The church (starting with the 12 disciples) had to learn to do without their leader.

Jesus said: “I will give you power (the Holy Spirit) and my presence will be with you.” (John 14:25-26).

The disciples may have grown to be dependant on Him so they had to learn to manage themselves, which they did very well.

The ‘Church’ now numbers around 2,000,000,000 members around the world.

Not bad for 12 beginners!