One of my favorite expressions is "outside the box."  Maybe that's because as a congregation we tend to do things differently than the average congregation, at least the average congregation in western Pennsylvania.  We don't do things differently just to be different, but because we are committed to sharing the new life of Jesus Christ with the world--ONE person at a time.

You may have heard the saying, "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got."  When applied to churches across the U.S. what we've "always got" for the past several decades is decline, apathy and the same, old thing.  Not all churches, of course, but the vast majority.  When we started New Life, we were (and still ARE) committed to experiencing and sharing the new life of Jesus--and that is anything but declining, apathetic and the same, old thing!  When we read the gospels--Matthew, Mark , Luke and John, we find that Jesus was always getting in trouble with the established religious authorities of His day for thinking and acting "outside the box."  He redefined how we think of God, the Sabbath, dietary laws, and focused on actually LIVING the life of faith rather than upholding traditions--all "out of the box" activities. 

As we approach Holy Week, one of the things we must remember is that Jesus' outside the box thinking and living was a major factor in His crucifixion.  Did you ever think about that?  People generally don't accept new ideas, especially new ideas about how to understand and relate to God without a fight.  Usually, that's a good thing.  After all, people have come up with new ideas about how to understand and relate to God throughout history and most of them have been WRONG.  Out of the box doesn't necessarily me right or good.  The key, then, becomes determining when out of the box IS right and good.  Here's the biggest clue for those of us who want others to know, love and serve Jesus about when out of the box is right and good:  If Jesus did it or affirmed it during His earthly ministry and it was out of the box, it was right and good!

Here are just a couple of examples of what it means to live out of the box in a good way from Jesus' life.  Jesus held a close, personal relationship with God, the Father, which was radically out of the box among the Jewish people of His day.  For us, that means worshiping and living that way, too.  When we demonstrate a personal knowledge of God, when we put that relationship FIRST in our lives, that will be out of the box in any era, because religion wants to keep God distant, and make accessing Him a series of difficult, if not impossible, good works.  Another, out of the box attitude and action of Jesus was welcoming EVERYONE into relationship with Him.  Jesus didn't just love "good" people (good thing since there aren't any!), He loved ALL people.  He was constantly in trouble with the religious leaders for welcoming "tax collectors and sinners."  At New Life we open the door to EVERYONE, and welcome EVERYONE to be part of us, even as we call and challenge everyone to become more and more like Jesus over time.  The key is we expect people to behave like Jesus AFTER they get to know whom, not as a prerequisite for being in worship and fellowship with us. 

When you worship, or attend a L.I.F.E. home group, or participate in ministry at New Life and think, "Most churches don't do things this way," the reason will be, because we're following our Savior's model and living outside the box, so others can experience His salvation and join us on the inside!