Children’s Ministry Blog

Summer Worship

May 27 Memorial Weekend, One service at 10:00 am
July 1 4th of July worship, 10:00 am, Rosland Park, more info to come.
July 8 – September 2 One worship service at 10:00 am.
September 9 Celebration Sunday!

Colonial Summer Series: Living in the Lion’s Den

Wednesdays, June 13 – July 18 (except July 4) 6:30 – 8:00 pm

Who?

There is something for everyone in every age group at Colonial Church

What?

Colonial Church Summer Series: a church wide experience of studying the book of Daniel, building community, and growing in faith.

When?

Wednesday evenings June 13, 20, 27 & July 11 & 18. Come for dinner between 5:30 – 6:30 pm. The Summer Series begins at 6:30 pm.

Why?

Because many people are scattered to different places on Sunday mornings throughout the summer. This Wednesday experience provides a time to stay connected while growing in faith together.

The lion’s den, the fiery furnace, living in a foreign culture. It’s what Daniel and his friends faced while in captivity in Babylon. Today, we must live our faith in a faithless culture not much different than Babylon’s.

Summer Series Description

Click here to register
In this weekly program, adults explore the themes in the book of Daniel, such as the sovereignty of God, the difference our faith needs to make in how we live our lives, and the importance of relationships through the teaching of Bethel Professor, Christian Winn. Meanwhile, elementary kids are transported back in time to an exotic Babylonian bazaar where they must defend their faith and learn that God is always with them.

There’s something for everyone! Kids and middle schoolers attend separate programming while adults and high schoolers attend the concurrent Bible study. Dinner will be offered at minimal cost every evening at 5:30pm. Since the goal of this series is a shared family experience, children who attend this series must be accompanied by a parent who volunteers or attends the study. Cost: $10/person. $25/family.

Youth Summer Info

CRASH for our middle school students! Joining the wider church, we will be taking a look at the book of Daniel, through a middle school perspective. These nights will be different than our school year CRASH nights and will each include extreme summer fun. Students currently in 6-8th grade as well as the upcoming 5th graders are invited to summer CRASH! June 13th we will kick off with our annual CRASH lock in! Registration for the Lock In is required, sign up HERE. The Lock in is for current 6-8th graders only-upcoming 5th graders are invited to stay until 8pm.

So, what does one say in a final blog?! There’s a part of me that wants to sound profound and important. But that would imply that any of my previous blogs have been profound and important, when really they were simply ramblings of what God seemed to be up to in my life.

So, simple ramblings are what this last blog will be as well.

Truth be told, there’s not that much left to say. The importance of family. The power of prayer. The significance of heartfelt obedience. The beauty of God’s invitations. All things you know already.

Maybe this blog is about all of the above as we each step into the future in faith.

Sometimes God’s invitations look scary and heartfelt obedience is required to lean into the unknown. The only way we have the courage to meet Jesus in the obscurity is because we’ve encountered Him in our past and know Him to be trustworthy. While we do not know what the future holds, we know the One who holds us.

I have great faith for the future of Colonial. Tested and refined, as only hard times will do, Colonial is on the verge of something amazing. We’ve learned to lean on God and on each other, through thick and thin. Stepping out in faith really only works when you’re leaning.

Although it is hardly my place to leave you with a charge, I ask for your indulgence.

Colonial, give God’s Spirit the freedom to breathe and blow in your midst, embrace the call to being authentic with one another and step out in faith, even if it means doing the thing that will only work if God shows up. The best part: He will. He always does.

Let us then “press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of us.” Phil. 3:12b

With love, Anne-Marie

Dear Colonial Family,

After much prayer and reflection, I have decided to resign from my position as Minister to Children. Almost seven years ago, I sensed God’s distinct call to Colonial and now, there is a deep sense of peace that this season has come to a close. My last day will be Sunday, April 29, 2012.

It has been my privilege and honor to serve this congregation. Together, we have walked through many joys, as well as challenges, and I give great thanks for the beautiful ways in which we have seen God at work in our midst.  Thank you for your incredible generosity and kindness towards my family and me. We will always remember you with fondness.

At this time, my plans are simply to continue my doctoral studies and await God’s next call. I also anticipate an extended trip to Australia in the near future to be with my father, now terminally ill.

Jesus is faithful and we trust Him with our future and yours. I have much hope for you, Colonial. Indeed, “I am confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6

In Christ,

Anne-Marie Finsaas

One of the best pieces of advice someone ever gave me as I was raising kids was not to parent them to impress others.

While it didn’t make me a perfect parent, it helped relieve my tendency towards fear-based, reactive parenting. So much of good parenting is about holding yourself together and not reacting, either to the expectations of others or your own internal insecurities.

Parents are particularly good at making one another feel insecure. “You’re choosing to do what with your infant? Well, I’ve heard that… “ And the expert advice begins. With expert information being passed around like a preschool cold virus, it’s no wonder we lose confidence in what little parenting intuition we thought we had.

Today, we chauffeur our children from hockey coaches to piano teachers to tutors and back again. We’re used to looking to the expert for almost everything in this awesome responsibility of raising children. In the process, we worry that we aren’t doing everything we could for our kids. At times, we wonder if we’ve ruined them completely. A lot of our parental energy is expended seeking advice and then being afraid we aren’t following it.

But perfect love cast out all fear. 1 John 4:18.

Let me put your mind at ease. God is with you, in the messy reactive stuff of parenting and in the fearful.

He is with you to sort out your own stuff and to remind you that you are loved. Even when you make that reactive choice to yell at your kids and feel sure that you have consigned them to a lifetime of therapy, He is with you. When you can live securely in His love, you love your children better.

He is with you when the expectations of being a 21^st century parent overwhelm you. Instead of worrying what others think, choose to make God your Audience of One. It really only matters that you follow His lead. After all, He knows you and your children best and He loves you always.

There’s something quite beautiful about having a new year to start life fresh again, isn’t there? Whether we believe in new year resolutions or not, most of us look forward to doing something better in our life come the new year. Not yelling at the kids so much, dating our spouse more regularly, eating family meals more often.

Whatever is on your heart to “do better,” remember to be realistic. There are just some seasons in life that are busier/trickier/fuller than others.

When my kids were preschoolers, I strived to have a time of prayer and Scripture reading while they were down for naps. Most of the time, I fell asleep on the couch. I’m not sure God minded. He knew I needed rest. But I imagine that the five minutes I acknowledged my need for Him before I fell asleep were valuable nonetheless.

That’s not to say we simply give into the pressures and demands of life that pull us away from leading a godly life, but we can be gentle with ourselves and full of grace for the season of life we find ourselves in. More importantly, we can invite the Holy Spirit to empower us to do the things that really matter for our families.

And do just that, no more and no less.

Ask God what it is that really matters for you to do better this year. Then, live fully into God’s invitation by His grace. “For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” Phil. 2:13

Now that our kids have all left home, it’s been intriguing to me to listen to what they remember about our family life. “Remember when…” one of them begins and the hoots of laughter start.

“Remember when Dad would take us up on the roof?” (Disclaimer required: it was a one-story rambler.) “Remember when we slept in forts we made under the Christmas tree for Christmas Eve?” (I have no recollection of this, but my kids are adamant they did.) “Remember when you yelled at all my friends, Mom?” (To which I calmly reply, “As I recall, you and your college friends, home on Thanksgiving break, were sledding down the hill in our backyard on air mattresses, yelling and screaming, in your boxers, at 2am!” Enough said.)

What amazes me is that most of the things they remember with glee are not the “memorable moments” I tried so hard to create (manufacture?) for the holidays. The dozens of cookies I baked. The hard-won victory of finding the perfect toy for each child. Not even the flaming plum pudding for Christmas Day dinner (can you believe it?).

Instead, they are the simple times that just happened because we were present to one another. There was space enough just to be and in that being, memories were made.

One of our fondest Advent memories is reading to the kids, freshly bathed and in their jammies, by the lights of the Christmas tree. It was simple. We had time just to be. This Advent, as busy as the holidays are, I pray you allow enough space in your schedule for the spontaneous, the spur of the moment, the zany, the calm. Keep some little pockets of time just for your family to be home together with nothing planned. Memories will be made.

Trust me. Your kids will remember.

Love,
Anne-Marie

Sometimes one of the hardest things in life is saying just one little word. For some people, that word is sorry. For others, it is goodbye or please or help. For me, that word is no.
What follows this aversion to saying no is that I do not set healthy boundaries for my life. I become busier and busier until I am overwhelmed. It’s a chronic problem. I haven’t said no very much in life, which means my life has been really interesting and really exhausting all at the same time.
Recently, I began my doctorate, which is of course what logically follows the last paragraph. It is a doctorate in ministry in Leadership and Spiritual Formation. Our course work has included lectures on the sustainability of ministers in the ministry.
One of my professors asked what might happen if one of us, as a minister of the gospel, went before our church governing board and confessed that we were having just the slightest of problems with adultery (it didn’t happen all the time mind you, but it was becoming increasingly chronic). Or with murder (we had struggled to keep this in check, but once in a while, well, we just took someone out). Of course, the class laughed at the ludicrousness of the suggestion. Ministers don’t disobey the Ten Commandments.
That is, all except one. Indeed, most of us really only follow the Nine Commandments. It’s that pesky fourth commandment that we don’t take seriously. The commandment to keep the Sabbath holy.
Sabbath keeping is not really in vogue anymore. It has been replaced by image-keeping. Eugene Peterson writes, “I am busy because I am vain. I want to appear important…. I am busy because I am lazy. I indolently let others decide what I should do instead of resolutely deciding myself.” Ouch!
Jesus said, “What good is it for you to gain the whole world, yet forfeit your soul?” (Mark 8:36) My soul loses when I don’t keep the Sabbath. Sabbath keeping acknowledges that the world will continue to turn without my input. We remember that God is God and we are not, which is an important thing to remember. Sabbath is being quiet long enough to hear God’s voice beneath the myriad of siren voices that demand our attention. Sabbath means saying no to our insatiable need for busyness in order to be able to say yes to God’s best for our souls.
I am now in the process of repenting. Yes, it is a process. Just this week, I said no twice. It was quite an accomplishment.
How is God inviting you into Sabbath-keeping?

It seems to me there are no dumb questions, but there are certainly questions that are not helpful. Not helpful questions, then, are the kind of questions parents ask kids that they cannot or should not have to answer.

Example. “What would you like for dinner tonight?” To a three year old. Developmentally, a three year old should not have to make that decision. Her world is safer when a parent decides what’s for dinner even if she doesn’t like what’s for dinner.

A child should never be asked a question if the answer to that question cannot be no. “Do you want to go to bed now?” is not a helpful question. It might even be a ‘d word’ question, if you get my drift. The better question is, “Which of these two books would you like me to read before bed tonight?” The decision has been made and kids can choose only what is developmentally appropriate for them to choose.

As parents, we are called to lead our children in the day-to-day, as well as the eternal stuff of life. We lead because we know better.

We want our kids to know and love Jesus for a lifetime. Going to church, praying, giving, serving, reading the Bible. That’s all part of getting to know and love Jesus. Asking your child if they want to go to church is probably in the category of questions that are not helpful. Framing why we go to church (to learn about Jesus), on the other hand, is. The same goes for praying and giving and serving and reading the Bible. All the spiritual disciplines that grow our faith.

I think we fear that if we don’t ask kids these kinds of questions, we are shoving religion down their throats. But, we are not peddling a religion. When we know and love Jesus ourselves, we are imparting a faith from deep within ourselves, a faith full of grace and life and hope. We yearn for our children to know Jesus too. When our children see our Bibles worn from reading on our bedside tables or our own heads bowed in fervent prayer, they know our faith is real and these spiritual disciplines are an invitation to a relationship, not the imposition of a religion.

So, here’s to questions that are helpful and age-appropriate and invitational. May they open up conversations that are life-giving and hope-filled and lead your family to grow in grace.

Partnering with you,
Anne-Marie

“The hip bone’s connected to the thigh bone, the thigh bone’s connected to the leg bone… oh them dry bones!” It sounds like a biology class jingle, but it’s really an old time Sunday School song.

I never knew until much later in life that this song was based on the passage in Ezekiel 37 where the prophet is taken to a valley full of a great many bones that were very dry. “Can these bones live?” the Lord asks Ezekiel. And Ezekiel is baffled.

Baffled, indeed. There are dry and dead places in our lives and we too wonder if those places can ever come to life. A valley we never want to visit again. A broken relationship. A failure we can’t shake. An ongoing illness or hurt or struggle. Dry and dusty and dead.

God tells Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones and breath enters into the bones and brings those dry bones to life. The Breath of God brings life from death. It is the Gospel in its fullness. It is the message of redemption.

Just yesterday I felt a crispness to the morning air that signaled the beginning of fall. There’s a sense of hope that comes with a new school year. We expect things to be different. We want things to be fresh and new.

Our God is the God of second chances and new beginnings and fresh starts.

Where do you need His Breath to breathe life in your family? What is He inviting you to believe He can bring to life from the dead this fall?

I pray your home is deeply blessed with new life in God this fall,
Anne-Marie

A couple of months ago, Ken and I experienced, for the very first time, the “sacrament of reconciliation.” Never heard of it? It’s what Catholics used to call “confession.” Yes, Ken and I went to confession at a Catholic weekend retreat. And, believe it or not, we loved it!

There is something so powerful about “coming out of hiding” and then celebrating the new beginning that God offers. Our relationship with God and with others is mended.

Confession is a good thing. It has a sneaky way of disarming the power of whatever is hiding in the secret places, because whatever is in hiding has a reason for wanting to stay in the dark, unknown to anyone but the secret holder.

Secrets feel safer in the dark, but it is there that they gather power. As the saying goes, “sunlight is the best disinfectant.” Confession is a gift we seldom unwrap, although it is full of grace for us.

I’ve shared some of the things I would do differently as a parent, if given a do-over. One of those things is making our home safer for our kids to have shared the ugly stuff of life, especially teen life. My reaction of shock to the tough stuff they were struggling with did nothing to make them feel safe. Indeed, mostly it sent them into hiding.

We need to encourage our kids to come out of hiding and confess their sins or talk through their struggles, as uncomfortable as those conversations might make us feel. Then, while there may be painful natural consequences, we need to forgive and celebrate a new beginning. Even as the Father celebrated the return of his prodigal son.

Confession. Forgiveness. Celebration. It’s a good thing.

I pray your home is a safe place to come out of hiding,

Anne-Marie