Prayer In the Firehouse

With all the different churches, do you believe that there should be prayer before your Company Meetings get started. Think before you answer, because you have firefighters that do not believe in God. You have others that our jewish and only use the New Testament I believe it is. So do you believe that there should be prayer before the start of a Company Meeting.

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Permalink Reply by jonathan on February 24, 2009 at 1:32pm

i wish we could have prayers in our fire house but if some one brings up the subject of prayers in the fire house several of our members get offended i try to pray each time we are paged out on a call but thats even starting to offend people in the truck an i dont even say it out loud is there some thing wrong with praying

Permalink Reply by Marty D. Ross on April 5, 2009 at 8:15pm

Our chaplain has started a little get together once a month we call family breakfast. We have a meal together then we have a devotion and prayer for each other and any one who may need it. It has taken off in a big way, we all love it and look foward to it each month.

Permalink Reply by Mark A. Duell on April 7, 2009 at 9:14pm

Yes. Is it that easy? Not always. I know from experience that it can be done. I also know that there are benefits to having prayer before a meeting. When we use to have our ambulance meetings separate from the fire dept. we opened up in prayer thanks to our pastor who was our President for a year. When i took over for him, we continued it w/out a problem. The benefit, of prayer before a meeting, it set the tone for the entire meeting. Everybody there knew that the pastor or myself wouldn't allow any discussions to get heated and if they did that it wasn't going to solve anything. Same w/the language, it was clean and if someone slipped they apologized. As far as the firemen meeting, well you have a larger and rougher bunch, but I'm working on it. It's part of my job as a chaplain. And when I do approach them w/it, I don't think I'll get to much of a resistance. We will do it as we did with the ambulance meetings. Open w/prayer and then the pledge to the flag. We even closed in prayer. So pray for each other in this area. I believe that it's not as hard as you might think. The reason I think this is because it is a brotherhood like the church somewhat. We work together as a body, each member has their part like the church body. We are there to serve those around us even if it may cost us our lives, such as Christ did for us. Now I'm also sure that this is not as easy w/a paid fire dept. as it is with a volunteer dept. But enough from my trap. Praise be to God and stay safe out there.

Permalink Reply by Lesa on April 18, 2009 at 12:23pm

We have started with a prayer and the pledge of allegence. But I noticed that we have had some trouble in the department since then....I feel that if evil can disrupt that it will if it feels threatened. We have recovered...thank be to GOD....We are Christian Fire Department....

Permalink Reply by wampa on April 20, 2009 at 4:22pm

I prayer for all my brothers but only silent or internal prayer (osea yo reso por todos mis hermanos siendo o no siendo de mi relion total Dios es uno solo, somos nosotros lo que le colocamos distintos nombres)
Sorry my Inglish is very poor, Rev.
One Good whith Diferent Name but Only One

Permalink Reply by Jake Fireman on April 20, 2009 at 4:34pm

You of course raise a very interesting question here.

Should prayer be allowed?
Well the founding fathers of this great country sure would agree with you. They founded America on Judeo-Christian beliefs. One I think it was Franklin or Jefferson said, that without god America would surely perish.

I personally believe that prayer has a very important place in the firehouse and in our lives.

I think it was in Ladder 49 where one ff said to another....fight enough fire, you find God. So true!

Unfortunately what I as an individual believe and what the policies of department and county say are not always in alignment.

People have convaluted the whole "seperation of church and state" doctorine.

There are alot of things that have been changed over the years. No pledge of alliegence in some schools..prayer..the same.

So do I think there should be prayer at meetings in fire houses etc. I sure do! But that doesnt mean that it will always happen or be that way.

Permalink Reply by Brandon Crone on May 11, 2009 at 5:01pm

We pray before each meeting, and I think we should do it a LOT more often. Who better to have backing you in training and in real life calls than The Lord, Jesus Christ!?

Permalink Reply by Jason McDonald on May 13, 2009 at 10:06am

I agree with freedom of speech and I believe in God but I personally think that we should not press our religion on others. We can witness to them but if they do not want to listen then we should not press the issue as that could get distract us from the point. I would love it everyone was a Christian and we could pray before a meeting but in the US I do not see that happening. We should respect others and their religions.

If you are in a government job in the US then you need to separate church and state or you can be in hot water. I would love it if everyone could pray but the truth is that not everyone is happy with the idea so if you have everyone waiting a prayer then sure, go ahead and have a prayer. If you do not have everyone wanting a prayer then be careful and pray before those people arrive.

Here in the Philippines it is common to have a prayer before meetings. I am happy to see that people here have faith and its tolerated more here to have prayer.

Permalink Reply by Melissa Eastwood on May 21, 2009 at 12:54pm