Haiti Kidnapping

[Theophilos]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/haiti-mis ... -1.6214239

[Josh]

side note: I wonder how many hundreds of thousands or millions of people have prayed for this group already, thanks to the public media posting the prayer requests.

I wonder if God is more likely to answer prayers if millions of people pray it after seeing it in the news media, versus just one person praying in their prayer closet.

[QuietlyListening]

I wonder if God is more likely to answer prayers if millions of people pray it after seeing it in the news media, versus just one person praying in their prayer closet.
0 x

Maybe God answers prayers of all praying and how can you say that many of the millions praying aren't praying in their prayer closet? God answers prayer.

[Josh]

I wonder if God is more likely to answer prayers if millions of people pray it after seeing it in the news media, versus just one person praying in their prayer closet.
0 x

Maybe God answers prayers of all praying and how can you say that many of the millions praying aren't praying in their prayer closet? God answers prayer.

Yes, but I don't think God is more likely to answer prayer because millions of people pray because something gets spread in the news media. I think God is just as likely to answer a single prayer from 1 or 2 people for a need, as he is to listen to millions of people praying because of an email prayer chain, or a big list, or because all the conservative Mennonites get worked up to pray for something relevant to their own people.

If we truly decided to "pray in secret" in our prayer closets, instead of "to be seen by men" as the "hypocrites do", we would refrain from vocally proclaiming how much we are praying for some current-events topic like this, or spreading around an email list, and so on. This is one of the less-desirable elements conservative Mennonites have absorbed from the broader evangelical culture.

[Josh]

From https://abcnews.go.com/International/17 ... d=80632346:

17 missionaries, including 5 children, kidnapped in Haiti, ministry says

The group was visiting an orphanage in the town of Ganthier.

The (mostly Canadian and American) Holdemans ran an orphange in Ganthier; my wife visited there two years ago. Due to the amount of unrest in Haiti, they gave up on trying to operate anything with Westerners involved earlier this year and all the Westerners went home. The native Haitians avoid the area and avoid travelling on the main roads because it's so dangerous. Most of the native congregations are in more remote mountainside areas which remain more calm, although travelling between them remains dangerous.

It would seem that Anabaptists may have to give up the idea of foreigners running Western-style organisations in Haiti, unless they also plan to start employing private security forces (like other NGOs in the area do), or else abandon their own ideals of nonresistance. Most NGOs in the third world use both private and public security and are more than willing to use deadly force.

I would posit that Haiti is a "closed door" for these kind of organisations and "mission work" going forward.

[Valerie]

I wonder if God is more likely to answer prayers if millions of people pray it after seeing it in the news media, versus just one person praying in their prayer closet.
0 x

Maybe God answers prayers of all praying and how can you say that many of the millions praying aren't praying in their prayer closet? God answers prayer.

Yes, but I don't think God is more likely to answer prayer because millions of people pray because something gets spread in the news media. I think God is just as likely to answer a single prayer from 1 or 2 people for a need, as he is to listen to millions of people praying because of an email prayer chain, or a big list, or because all the conservative Mennonites get worked up to pray for something relevant to their own people.

If we truly decided to "pray in secret" in our prayer closets, instead of "to be seen by men" as the "hypocrites do", we would refrain from vocally proclaiming how much we are praying for some current-events topic like this, or spreading around an email list, and so on. This is one of the less-desirable elements conservative Mennonites have absorbed from the broader evangelical culture.

Josh, this is no time for this kind of theology & criticism, the "motive" of the Pharisees praying in the street was to be seen by men.
Please don't assume motives in corporate praying is to be seen by men but that the church being one is praying together and denominational walls only grieve God.

I just saw this on the news and then on here, this is major concern & we ALL need to intercede for all, including worried family members.

[Szdfan]

Josh, this is no time for this kind of theology & criticism, the "motive" of the Pharisees praying in the street was to be seen by men.
Please don't assume motives in corporate praying is to be seen by men but that the church being one is praying together and denominational walls only grieve God.

I just saw this on the news and then on here, this is major concern & we ALL need to intercede for all, including worried family members.

I’m not a fan of “public” prayer, which to me is prayer that declares how Christian a community or country is. However, I think corporate prayer among the believers is an appropriate response to a crisis like this.

I’m not sure that declaring on a forum or Facebook whether I’m going to pray for something means that much, but I’m not going to criticize people for that. I think people mean well when they say things like that and it’s between them and God over whether they actually pray.

I do get frustrated with the phrase “thoughts and prayers” when it’s used as a performative response to tragedy, but that’s a different issue.

Pray away.

[steve-in-kville]

We have cousins that operate an orphanage in Haiti and they have reported a lot lately about the unrest. This is sad news.

[hillperson]

From https://abcnews.go.com/International/17 ... d=80632346:

17 missionaries, including 5 children, kidnapped in Haiti, ministry says

The group was visiting an orphanage in the town of Ganthier.

The (mostly Canadian and American) Holdemans ran an orphange in Ganthier; my wife visited there two years ago. Due to the amount of unrest in Haiti, they gave up on trying to operate anything with Westerners involved earlier this year and all the Westerners went home. The native Haitians avoid the area and avoid travelling on the main roads because it's so dangerous. Most of the native congregations are in more remote mountainside areas which remain more calm, although travelling between them remains dangerous.

It would seem that Anabaptists may have to give up the idea of foreigners running Western-style organisations in Haiti, unless they also plan to start employing private security forces (like other NGOs in the area do), or else abandon their own ideals of nonresistance. Most NGOs in the third world use both private and public security and are more than willing to use deadly force.

I would posit that Haiti is a "closed door" for these kind of organisations and "mission work" going forward.

Where does cross bearing and being a soldier of Jesus Christ come in?

Am I a soldier of the cross,
A follow’r of the Lamb?
And shall I fear to own His cause,
Or blush to speak His name?
Must I be carried to the skies
On flow’ry beds of ease,
While others fought to win the prize,
And sailed through bloody seas?
Are there no foes for me to face?
Must I not stem the flood?
Is this vile world a friend to grace,
To help me on to God?
Sure I must fight if I would reign;
Increase my courage, Lord;
I’ll bear the toil, endure the pain,
Supported by Thy Word.
Thy saints in all this glorious war
Shall conquer, though they die;
They see the triumph from afar,
By faith’s discerning eye.
When that illustrious day shall rise,
And all Thy armies shine
In robes of vict’ry through the skies,
The glory shall be Thine.

I think sometimes in our Western world of ease we forget what it’s like to be a true soldier of Jesus Christ.

[Ernie]

Yes, hillperson. These missionaries understood the risks and they chose to do it anyway.