2/17/2009
<br>Author: Devin Pickard
<br>Title: Increase or Decrease
<br><br>I seem to be getting asked the same question more and more, week after week.....and I'm not the only one.  I have had several Fairfield members tell me that they are being quizzed almost daily about the same subject as they travel throughout the highways and byways of Centerville, TN.  The oft asked question is very simple ..... “How are y'all doing it?”  Now, the interrogations are not directed at trying to figure out how Sheila Brady makes her fabulous homemade bread or how Glenda Newsom puts together those to-die-for chocolate oatmeal cookies.....or any other well kept, vault-worthy Fairfield secret for that matter.  No, the question at hand refers to how this church has grown so steadily over the last couple of years.  Just as a point of reference.....exactly one year ago this week we had 228 in attendance on Sunday morning.  Fast forward to a year later.....this past Sunday we had 369 fill the pews.  At first glance you scratch your head and say “How can that be?  Surely the weather was bad this same time last year or you had a bunch of sick folks or there were several  people out of town or.....” , I'm sure you catch my drift.  Whatever the case was, there were 141 more worshipers in this building this past Sunday morning than the Sunday morning 364 days earlier.  Whatever the reason is.....the glory is God's and God's alone.<br><br>As I contemplate the curiosity of so many, I don't think there is any one or two specific things that could be pointed out as the main catalyst for directing more cars to the parking lot of 1860 Hwy. 100 on a regular basis.  I do know that our recent attendance figures are no fluke.....Ken Copley tells me that we averaged 341 in Sunday morning attendance for the month of January alone.   I think there are a number of different ingredients for the steady growth of Fairfield starting with the diligent, loving oversight of our 5 elders and working downward.  But rather than trying to point out all the aspects of this growing church, I thought I would try to highlight some of the things a congregation could implement  if  its goal was to lose members.  Here are just a few for your consideration.....  <br><br>*Focus more on church/man-made traditions and “the way we've always done it” rather than the Great Commission and the main business of trying to win lost souls to Christ*<br><br>*Be uninviting, rude, arrogant, and unfriendly while trying to create a “members only” country club atmosphere....make the “outcasts” of the community feel unwelcome and unworthy to be in your presence*<br><br>*Forget about the young people of the congregation.....provide no activities of fellowship for them and stay away from tackling the tough subjects of their lives (sex, drugs, alcohol, associations, etc)*<br><br>*Be sure to have plenty of “clicks”.....try to have a number of different in-groups in the same church family that constantly bicker and argue over non-spiritual relevant issues*<br><br>*Be most concerned with whats going on in the surrounding congregations rather that what's happening in your own back yard.....be openly critical of the honest efforts of your fellow Christians*<br><br>Could the above list be any longer? Are you kidding....we could fill volumes with information as to how to push a church into a downward spiral.  I hope all such-like things continue to stay away from Fairfield.  Here, lives are being transformed, hearts are being healed, relationships are being restored, and hope is being embraced.  I guess we have just found 369 people interested in some of that stuff.<br>           <br><br> Go the extra mile-Devin<br>