I don’t think a Centered Set approach leads to universalism. To the contrary, I think a Centered-Set approach best reflects biblical theology.<\/p>\n

First, when we say that all people are \u201cin\u201d we don\u2019t mean that all people are justified or have eternal life. At least, I don\u2019t mean this.<\/p>\n

So in this way, all are accepted. All are forgiven. All barriers are destroyed. All walls have been torn down. There is no longer a dividing line. The community of people accepted by God is not bound by a circle with some inside His love and everyone else outside. It is not a bounded set.<\/p>\n

I used the image of a watering hole in Africa previously, but another helpful image is a galaxy. A galaxy is made up of trillions of stars all gathered around a blazing center. While many of the stars are gathered in the center, some of the stars are further out. Yet due to gravity, all are being pulled toward the center.<\/p>\n

In the world of humanity, Jesus is the center and all of us are in proximity to him. He is drawing all people to Himself. We cannot draw a circle around Jesus and say \u201cOnce you cross this line\u201d you are now accepted and loved by Him. Jesus doesn’t operate this way, and neither should we.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In this way, following Jesus is not about sliding scales of orthodoxy, compartments or titles. It\u2019s not about signing on the doctrinal dotted line. While there may be disagreements about certain points of theology, we can still love another other and serve others in the name of Jesus. We can see others not as foes and enemies, but as people who are on the other side of the galaxy from where we are at. And though the way they may see things appears alien to us, there are still some things we can learn from them and they can learn from us as we both swirl around Jesus.<\/p>\n

Though I wouldn\u2019t call this universal proximity to Jesus \u201cthe church\u201d it does provide the church with a universal task, and universal openness to people of all backgrounds, all beliefs, and all behaviors. It eliminates judging, for there is no creed or checklist by which we can determine who has crossed the line. Indeed, there is no line. There is only the center, and the center is Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

Some reject a centered set approach to church because they think it leads to universalism. This is not true if we understand forgiveness and eternal life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8115,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[15,19],"class_list":{"0":"post-8108","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"tag-close-your-church-for-good","8":"tag-discipleship","9":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\n