Last Sunday, kidnappers abducted 17 Christian missionaries, including five children, in Haiti. The American missionaries are part of a Mennonite group called Christian Aid Ministries, which has been working in Haiti for years. This time, they were building an orphanage in a town east of Port-au-Prince.

Haiti has been ensnared in near-total political and social chaos for decades, as the country's people suffer under inept and corrupt governments, crushing poverty, natural disasters, and increasingly brazen and violent gangs. When news breaks of a shocking abduction like this, it prompts an honest question: why would a group of Mennonite missionaries from rural Ohio - why would anyone - keep going back to a place like Haiti?

There's only one answer compelling enough to make sense: because Jesus rose from the dead, the Gospel is real, and Christ has called us to be His hands and feet to even the most vulnerable. Please join us in praying for the safe return of these courageous brothers and sisters, and for the suffering people of Haiti.