"There is in Jesus a kind of relentless divine reach.  I guess that's why the church, which believes that Jesus saves, has been reluctant to say for sure whether or not Jesus saves people who are not in the church.  The church's reluctance about this matter is not due to the church's mushy inclusiveness but rather to the church's disinclination to set limits on just what the love of Jesus can and can't do.  Just when I settle in and try to reduce Jesus' love to me and my friends huddled in church, I hear him say to (us) the faithful, "The tax-collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you!"

By William H. Willimon in Why Jesus