COLONY — Colony Day 2014 is fast approaching Saturday and the whole town is preparing for the daylong event. In addition to tractor pulls, turtle races, cake walks and other fun activities, this year’s celebration is dedicated to something special.
It can not be pinned with a blue ribbon or defined by speech or song, but it’s something that runs deep through the community: faith.
“I see the town of Colony as very much a faith-based town,” said Pastor Dorothy Welch of United Methodist Church. “If you have no faith in Christ, there is no hope.”
The theme for this year’s Colony Day is “Street of Hope, Built on Faith,” and the town’s pastors will participate in the parade as grand marshals.
What’s a grand marshal?
“Good question,” laughed Steve Bubna of Colony Community Church. “It’s just kind of an honor thing.”
The grand marshals lead the parade, and the leaders chosen were Colony’s church leaders.
There are many things that can be said about what this means in regard to small town faith, and each pastor has a different interpretation.
For Mark McCoy, Colony Christian Church, his life’s journey took him from small-town life in southeast Kansas to an internship in the bustling city life in the Washington, D.C., area. While big cities provide many opportunities to minister to the needy, McCoy was struck by how isolating city life can be.
“You can live in a town of a million people and be terribly lonely,” he said. “It made me appreciate small towns a lot more.”
McCoy said he appreciated the unique experience, but he appreciated coming home to Kansas and to minister to the people of Colony.
Welch could relate. She was trained specifically to minister to people in smaller community congregations. People come to smaller churches, she said, because everyone knows each other like family.
“This leads to a deeper and more joyful faith,” she said.
Welch came to Colony just last year, but found everyone to be welcoming.
“Colony is such a wonderful town. I’ve been so impressed by the people and how they care for one another,” she said.
Welch makes the weekly drive to United Methodist Church in Colony from her home in Princeton, where she works a second job as a teacher and is raising two teenagers. She also pastors at Trinity Church in Iola. Finding the energy to do all of this is not a problem, Welch said.
Christ gives her all the energy she needs to accomplish her work, she said.
“My greatest struggle is time,” she said. Juggling all of her activities sometimes does not leave her with the spare time to meet everybody like she wants.
Colony Day should provide her such an opportunity.
Bubna said the thing he was most looking forward to about the celebration was the chance to talk to people.
“Sometimes people come you haven’t seen in years,” he said. “It’s just the kind of place that feels like home.”
McCoy said that caring about people, whether they be family, friends or even enemies, was part of the “marching order,” that Jesus gave them.
“Building relationships with people takes time,” he said. “This is a lifetime we’re trying to build with people.”
Welch said she was looking forward to Colony Day because of the energy of the community: “It’s a celebration of how the community is able to renew itself.”
Colony Day to celebrate community faith, love
