Chalke Talk 55: Is God's grace really available to everyone?

This week Steve begins thinking about salvation and God's grace.  Encouraging all of us to think about whether we can reconcile a God of love with the idea that salvation is not for everybody.
Salvation is one of the big questions that “life in our globalised, multi-faith, multi-cultural world”, highlights for the Church.

For some, Christianity presents an implicit "us and them" perspective.  ‘Us’ who will be saved and ‘them’ who won’t.

So some questions to think about:

• If God's grace is real grace – amazing, undeserved, non-discriminatory, uncontainable, extraordinary grace – then why isn’t it available to everyone regardless of their, religious beliefs or social background?

• In the end, is salvation just for those lucky enough to live near a church, and the kind of church that helps and welcomes them, rather than hinders and makes them feel unwelcome?

• What about the countless people who are turned away from Christ by the attitudes and behaviours of the Church?