The Christian Fellowship Center has been in the news lately as they seek to buy an historic building in Canton to permanently house their congregation there. In 2011, the church bought the former Catholic Newman Center in Potsdam.

The church also operates affiliates in Moira, Gouverneur and Richville.

Around 650 people attend services weekly at CFC churches, about 300 of which are full church members.

CFC leadership feels that several factors may contribute to their congregations’ growth -- a focus on self sacrifice, a straightforward gospel message, a culture which encourages creative endeavors and community involvement, and a focus on moving forward and being relevant while maintaining classic Christian values.

CFC Senior Pastor Rick Sinclair says the idea of solidly committing to Christian discipleship and self sacrifice are perhaps central to the church’s attraction to new congregants.

“Out of that springs a sense of the value of people, that people are important. People are what God loved, the dignity of humanity,” Sinclair said. “That’s an intentional valuable component.”

“People coming in they get a sense of purpose,” Sinclair said. “Its not really gearing our lives around our own happiness, its about serving Christ.”

“All I know is the sense of seeing lives touched, it really is exciting,” he said.

Sinclair is a 1979 graduate from Crane School of Music with a master’s degree in music.

He says finding the church in those early days presented him with a choice after graduation to follow god or to become a rock or jazz musician.

“God was really speaking to us to stay in the area,” Sinclair said.

An active member of the CFC for several years, he took over the senior pastoral duties of the organization in 1982.

The organization’s structure of several affiliate churches throughout the region has always been an intentional move, and somewhat different than what is seen in other charismatic Christian communities.

The popular view of evangelical organizations around the country is that they often construct large amphitheater size churches, so called mega-churches, with congregations in the thousands.

“I surmised with previous pastors that having a big mega-church was not going to work here,” Sinclair said.

Instead the organization has adopted the principal of affiliates or branch churches which more directly serve congregations in their home towns.

The Canton congregation under the leadership of Rick Sinclair’s son, Jamie Sinclair, is one of the latest additions to the CFC. The church there has grown from 20 adults and the launch team to now more than 100 meeting at the Best Western.

The group is looking to purchase The Club building which sits behind the Main Street business district. Zoning issues have that purchase stalled for the moment.

Jaime Sinclair got his pastoral start leading outreach efforts and bible studies to the local college communities while obtaining his computer science degree.

“I just loved connecting with people,” the younger Sinclair said.

Jamie Sinclair said presenting a simple gospel message has been a focus of the CFC. In terms of student populations and younger congregants, cultural and political pressures are very real, Sinclair said. “They often just need a clear articulation of what is laid out in scripture,” he said. “We don’t want to fail to address these but we double down (on message),” said Jamie Sinclair.

“We sow a lot into building people,” Jamie Sinclair said.

Rick Sinclair added that CFC members are not only active in their church congregations but that being good community members has been part of the culture at CFC as well.

“We see the impact on the community, the impact the people have pioneering businesses, the impact they have when they put their own lives together,” the senior pastor said.

Rick Sinclair referred to a Pew Research Foundation study in 2014 that evaluates trends in Christianity. The study indicates a definite decline in adherents to mainline Christian denominations like Presbyterian, Methodist and Catholic groups.

However, while Christian numbers are down across the board in the U.S., the population of unaffiliated Christians is on the rise.

The study is viewable online at www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/.

“Those following a gospel-centric message, that population was growing,” Rick Sinclair said.

The CFC senior pastor said this trend isn’t really unique.

“There are a lot of churches like ours,” he said.

Rick Sinclair feels that some of the overall decline in mainline churches led many in the 1990s to try to contemporize their message with liberalism, something which hasn't apparently worked to increase congregant populations, if the Pew study is any indication.

Evangelism, however, has changed a great deal over the years, Sinclair said.

“The evangelist of the 1980s looks a little different than the evangelist of the 21st century,” he said.

Jamie added that this is maybe best exemplified in the charismatic Christian movement.

“We have a vision to move forward,” Jamie Sinclair said. “But not necessarily saying ‘How do we be modern?’ but ‘Who are we?”

“We are not going to get stuck in 1980,” Rick Sinclair said.

The CFC’s brand of modernism features podcasts of sermons on its website, offers a school for youth and homeschooled children, fields a music recording studio, and produces theater shows and art exhibits.

“We need to be constantly allowing people to explore their creativity,” Rick Sinclair said.

But, the senior pastor adds that the CFC does not give up its core values, while trying to be relevant and modern and grow congregations.

Rick Sinclair, who was raised Catholic, said that as a young Christian he wasn’t really comfortable with various denominations or forms of Christianity, a feeling which led him to evangelism.

“Neither form was the right form. The form, that’s expendable. I try to remind myself what’s the heart of the message.”

The pastor said the core issues of Christianity matter, and emphasized moral purity. “We are not going to compromise our basic message of Christ.”

“Jesus is not a fad. He was counter culture at the time, and he is counter culture now.”

New home for CFC Canton?

The CFC Canton branch, which has been meeting at the Best Western University Inn, is trying to buy The Club building, 25 Court St., for use as its newest building to serve over 100 congregants.

Some opposition has been voiced at village planning board meetings, based on the building’s long history as restaurant, and concern the acquisition would take it off the tax rolls.

The CFC is to meet with the village Zoning Board of Appeals on Wednesday, Nov. 28 at 7 p.m. to seek a use variance to allow the church to operate at the building.

Here is a look at the history of The Club building:

• Built in 1880 as a gentlemen’s club

• At one time featured a mahogany bar and bowling alley

• Home of several popular restaurants and bars over the years including The Glass Onion and The Elegant Frog

• Closed as The Club in July and has been for sale since.

• Building assessed at $250,000; half-acre lot it sits on assessed at $40,000.

• Listed for sale at $650,000; MLS# 38206 on www.slcmls.com

About the Christian Fellowship Center

• Tent meetings led by Florida evangelist Lonnie Langston start in Brier Hill in 1973

• Under former pastor Tom Wells, built main church in Madrid in 1978

• Congregations now in Madrid, Moira, Gouverneur, Richville, Potsdam

• 45,000 square foot former Madrid school purchased in 2001, after fire of unknown origin destroyed church

• Madrid location and 53-acre lot serves 500 parishioners; includes offices, classrooms, 9-hole public golf course

• Podcast of many sermons available at cfconline.org.

• Offers tuition-based school for youngsters and homeschooling resources.

• Church membership requires completing an application, attending a class, exhibiting evidence of living a Christian life and practicing storehouse tithing.