Tears dotted many of the faces of the 400 friends and neighbors of Thomas, Lisa, Kevin and Maggie Haines as they attended a community prayer service Wednesday evening at Neffsville Mennonite Church.

"Tonight we gather as a community impacted by the tragic murder of three members of the Haines family on Peach Lane," the Rev. Harry Jarrett, lead pastor of Neffsville Mennonite Church, said at the beginning of the service. "We acknowledge our fear and replace it with faith. We recognize our pain and begin our healing as we confess our uncertainty and seek security in our God."

In a responsive prayer, attendees asked God to "illumine the pathways through our loss and guide us toward the dawn."

As they lit candles, the participants remembered the Haines family's faces and voices and asked God to comfort and heal surviving daughter Maggie Haines and other relatives. They also remembered Manheim Township Police Department and other agencies working to bring justice and peace.

"Refresh, restore and reconcile us, O God," they said. "Lead us into a hopeful future."

The half-hour candlelight service was "wonderful and healing for the community. It was very much needed and appreciated," one man told Jarrett as he was leaving the service.

The service was organized after a woman shared in church Sunday morning that her children were students of Lisa Haines, who was a preschool teacher at Lancaster Church of the Brethren.

"We had to respond," Jarrett said. "We needed to do something. When they never found out who (killed the family), the more need there was to gather as a community."

Jarrett said he organized the service with St. Peter's Lutheran Church and Blossom Hill Mennonite Church because all three churches are located close to the Haines home and have members who were directly affected by the slayings. Officials from the churches agreed the community needed to come together for mutual support.

After the service, everyone was invited to stay and talk with each other or to counselors. Teens also were encouraged to gather as a group.

Members of Otterbein United Methodist Church — the Haineses' church — came as a group to the service.

"They were our friends," said several of the women, who wished not to be identified. "We wanted to do this."

They said the news of the Haineses' deaths came as a shock.

"They were the kindest, most gentle people," one woman said. "(It was hard to believe they would be) victims of a violent act."

E-mail: lvaningen@lnpnews.com