Prayer Walk in the Middle East - Photo Essay

FBW photo by Joni B. Hannigan

Amman mosques - On a prayer walk from the top of a hill north of downtown Amman, a Baptist relief team that was diverted in early September from Iraq to Jordan stopped to capture the view. Two spires rising from the King Hussein Mosque, built in 1924 on the site of a 7th century mosque, mark the site of just one of at least a half dozen mosques visible from this point. As they walked the team prayed and claimed Zacharias 10:12 “So I will strengthen them in the Lord and they shall walk up and down in His name says the Lord.” (NKJV).

FBW photo by Joni B. Hannigan

Baby steps - The Baptist relief team on a prayer walk in Amman, Jordan encounter a toddler walking up dozens of steep steps leading to his home and remember that many displaced Iraqi children are malnourished and their parents live day to day not knowing when and if they will be able to return their homeland in Iraq.

FBW photo by Joni B. Hannigan

Naptime interrupted - In Amman, Jordan on a prayer walk to pray for the Iraqi people, a Baptist relief team stops to hand out candy to children who spied the group from an upstairs room and ran down to the gate to say: “Welcome to Jordan,” a common greeting to foreigners visiting the region.

FBW photo by Joni B. Hannigan

Shoe shop - In Amman, Jordan on a prayer walk, a Baptist relief team that had been diverted from Iraq to Jordan pray for the economy of this border country which has absorbed more than half a million Iraqi refugees in the past 6-7 years. An old, large Singer sewing machine sits largely unused in this curbside repair shop.

FBW photo by Joni B. Hannigan

Loaded down - In a place where East meets West, a Baptist relief team prayerwalking in Amman, Jordan pause to think about the reality of a culture that is in many ways dressed for the West, but retains much of its old world customs.

FBW photo by Joni B. Hannigan

Veiled woman - Women in Jordan, like men, cluster together any time they are in the open. Prayerwalkers in Amman noted both Islamic men and women dressed in vestments of their faith shunned cameras—but were much more likely to allow their children to be photographed.

FBW photo by Joni B. Hannigan

Headdress - Some Arab men in the Middle East wear various forms of head coverings indicating their particular culture group or religion—and some simply protect themselves from the desert heat in a traditional way. Baptist relief workers on a prayer walk in Amman, Jordan, were reminded to examine their own heart in relation to the Arab peoples: “I will sanctify my great name which has been profaned among the nations which you have profaned in their midst, and the nations shall know I am their Lord, says the Lord God, ‘when I am hallowed in you before their eyes’” (Ezekiel 36:23 NKJV).