Photo: Maribel Hinojosa and Malakai and Marty Troyer participate in the prayer walk. Photo by Vada Snider. 

About 50 people joined a prayer walk led by Mennonite Women USA and Mennonite Men on Tuesday afternoon, July 4.

Marlene Bogard, executive director of Mennonite Women USA, who participated in the walk, said that this was “a time to be in the presence of God together and to hold others up in prayer.”

The group sang “Unity,” then walked in silence from the convention center to the Rosen Plaza Hotel, where they stood in a circle and offered extemporaneous prayers for the church and the world. Then they walked back to the convention center and sang “We Are One in the Spirit” before disbanding.

Wilma Bailey of Shalom Mennonite Church in Indianapolis said such a gathering to pray was important at the beginning of convention.“I walk every day,” she said. “I liked putting [praying and walking] together. Those are two of my favorite things.”