More than 100 people gathered for about two hours inside the Borden family's home church -- a simple chapel with just 24 pews -- where members learned Sunday during morning services that Mike and Cathy had been shot to death in their Lititz home hours earlier, allegedly by Ludwig, the 18-year-old boyfriend of their 14-year-old daughter, Kara.

The congregation sang three hymns to open the service, including one of Mike's favorites, "Be Thou My Vision."

"We know tonight where Mike and Cathy are," church elder David Sheaffer said. "They're with the Lord in heaven, and we rejoice in that."

Sheaffer asked for prayers for the Borden and Ludwig families and those close to them, and for the authorities working on the homicide investigation.

He emphasized the need to forgive.

"If you listen to the news, you kind of get a sense that a young man has been condemned already," Sheaffer said.

Men only were invited to pray aloud, and more than a dozen stood one by one and spoke about the five Borden children and the faith of their parents.

One man said he was thankful that Justin Borden, who is in the Army, returned from Iraq and was able to see his parents "before You called them home." He said the Bordens' oldest son, James, who lives in Chicago, had planned to return to Lititz for Thanksgiving to introduce his girlfriend to his parents.

After 45 minutes of prayer, the service ended with a hymn.

One church member, who asked not to be identified, said he has forgiven Ludwig, who is in Lancaster County Prison awaiting a preliminary hearing.

"Without a doubt, I know that's what (Mike and Cathy) would want," he said. "They tried to work with David in a loving way."

Many church members who are close to the family said they have not seen the Borden children since the murders.

William Sobieray, 25, and his wife, Alyssa, 27, of Lancaster, said the Bordens were like second parents to them when they moved to Lancaster two years ago.

"They were our role models," William said. "(Mike) was my mentor. He was who I looked up to for everything.

"They'd want forgiveness for David. They'd want prayers for his soul."

The Bordens visited church member Kristen Landis, 29, of Lititz, 11 weeks ago when her son was born, Landis recalled, choking back tears.

Susanna Hartman, 18, a church member from Brownstown, said Mike and Cathy were high school sweathearts in Missouri, and that Cathy still had a Southern drawl from the years the family spent in North Carolina.

Hartman said she doesn't like the media's coverage of their deaths.

"People don't know them, and people say stuff, and I don't like it," she said.

Hartman's father, Dale, worked with the church youth group along with Mike. He described Mike as a truthful, gentle man.

"Why are we so violent?" he asked.

After the service, Sheaffer said he and the other church elders are meeting with leaders from the church Ludwig attended, Lititz Christian Church.

"The only way we can handle this is to ask for the Lord's help," he said. "We've got to bear each other's burdens.

"Yes, he might be convicted and (spend) life in prison, but life in prison without the Lord is going to be (hard) for him to handle," he said. "Life in prison with the Lord is going to be a blessing to him."

A funeral for the Bordens will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at Good Shepherd Chapel at Lancaster Bible College, 901 Eden Road.