Who's in and Who's Out in the Biblical Story and Why it Matters

This teaching series explores the role of ‘the outsider' as a theme that runs throughout the Bible. We often think (correctly) that the Biblical story of God's exclusive covenant is with ‘the insider'Israel, from whom comes an exclusive Jewish Saviour, Jesus of Nazareth. However, this ‘one people', ‘one Saviour' and ‘one way' is shocking to a culture of ‘many ways to God'. Yet we discover that this God who elects and chooses one, is for the good and sake of the many. We will look at some of the Biblical figures such as Naaman, Esau, Rahab, and Ruth in the Old Testament and ‘the woman at the well' and Joseph of Arimathea in the New Testament, to discover their role and relationship as ‘outsiders'.

This series is for those of us who struggle with this ‘exclusiveness' of God, or who feel that they themselves are ‘outsiders' to the experience of God or of a real relationship with Him; or for those of us who consider themselves ‘insiders' and may have forgotten God's commitment to ‘the outsiders'.