This Sunday at Ashland Avenue Baptist Church we began to pray and respond to the current crisis in Haiti.  Here is some updated information concerning our immediate prayer initiatives.

Pray for Relief Efforts: Roadways and electricity must be restored throughout to help with relief efforts.  General chaos and confusion from those desperate for help has led to violence such as riots and looting.  Last week, the word was, “If you are not medical personnel and if you do not know the language, wait!”  Now relief teams from all over the U.S. are leaving and planing to travel to Haiti at this very moment.  Pray the relief will help bring order to the chaos to Haiti.  Pray also for safe passage for those bringing the relief to Haiti.

Pray for the Abandoned: There were 1.2 million orphans in Haiti prior to the earthquake. Only 200,000 lived in orphanages. Orphan care was already difficult in Haiti due to the extreme poverty.  This tragedy has not only created more orphans that need care and families but the governmental structures needed to process adoptions have been affected.  With this said, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has announced the provision of “humanitarian parole” for certain Haitian orphans.  You can read about these developments here.  At this time, adoptions that were already in process will be addressed. However, lets continue to pray that more doors will be open for both orphans and refugees from the country of Haiti.   Pray also that orphan care initiatives will increase and many more will see the need to defend the fatherless in Haiti.

Pray for the Lost: Joshua Project lists more than 4 million, ½ of the population of Haiti, as nominally Christian.  11% of the population is listed as unreached, meaning they have little or no access to the gospel. 74% of the Christian population is categorized as Roman Catholic and only 20% Protestant.  Hatians are very ’spiritual’ people and heavily syncretistic. Pray that this tragedy will be used to awaken Haiti to the gospel.  But pray also that there will be a renewed focused on the unreached in Haiti.

Giving to Haiti: If you are member of Ashland Avenue Baptist Church, you can designate your funds to AABC Ends of the Earth: Haiti Relief. This money will go to fund the relief efforts of the International Mission Board’s Haiti Response Fund.

Tags: ashland avenue baptist church, haiti, haiti relief, orphan, Unreached