The following is an excerpt from a February 1 article from “The Tennessean.”:

[Rubel] Shelly announced this week that he will leave his position at [The Family of God Church at Woodmont Hills] in August to teach college students how to create similar social service ministries, serving as a professor in a new graduate program in urban ministries offered at Rochester College, a Christian school in Rochester Hills, Mich.

He said he will continue to be involved in several Family of God ministries, including a health center, a program to bridge the racial divide between churches, and a project to build an orphanage and a school in India for poor children and those who lost their parents to the Dec. 26 tsunami.

“These are the sorts of compassionate ministries the church has been involved with during my life here,” he said. “Out of my own spiritual evolution, I've tried to adopt a much more Christ-like spirit and not be so sectarian and isolationist.”

For him, salvation is a gift from God, and cannot be earned through good works. Shelly said helping others is a show of gratitude for God's grace and for Jesus’ death on the cross—which earned the salvation of all Christians.

From the above article we see that Rubel Shelley is leaving the work of the Family of God at Woodmont Hills in Nashville, TN to be a professor at Rochester College in Michigan. While there, he plans to teach the students to be more inclusive and open to all kinds of different doctrines. The Tennessean also mentions the fact that Rubel Shelly believes that salvation is a gift of God, and we can do nothing to earn that salvation.

It would be great if this were the truth. None of us would ever have to worry about being a Christian, and none of us would ever have to worry if we make it to heaven. All mankind would be saved, and it makes no difference how we live our lives or even if we tried. God’s grace would cover it all.

But if this were true, why all the emphasis on the strait way and the narrow path (Matthew 7:13-14)? Why all the warnings time and again about the possibility of being lost? Why did the apostles teach and preach about what the Jews and Gentiles must do to be saved (Acts 2; 8, 16)? Why did our Lord say that we prove our love to Him by our obedience to His commands (John 14:15)? Why are there letters to Christians about how to live and what to do when it comes to the Christian life?

It breaks my heart every time I read of someone who is influential who leads others away from the truth. How many will be lost because they trusted the misunderstandings of man rather than studying God’s Word on their own? Brethren, study!