The Church's Commitment (or Lack of) to Fighting the AIDS Pandemic

[Shaizari]

Actually, not all churches have the resource to educate either, believe it or not ALL churches are different individually.

For a Church like mine, our resources allow us to commit to the local needs of our community so far. Its not that we don't want to help with AIDS. Our hands are full. Its not fair to condemn all churches in one shot.

People seem to think the worst of the church easily, some with justification, some with bigotry.

AIDS is not the most important issue in the Chruch, it is one of the most important issues, and different bodies of the Church address it in your speciality. We could sit here and pontificate on what the church should and should not do in the face of the AIDS crisis but that only reveals a poor understand on what churches are capable of.

 

[Jamila]

Thank you all for your opinions -this issue merited discussion and it received it in this forum.

Hopefully we will all grow in our various faiths and become people who demonstrate God's Love in our world even better than before this discussion.

Ultimately, the question we need to ask ourselves is: are we doing ALL that we could be doing to help as many people as we could be helping as often as we should be helping them?

If your answer is an UNQUALIFIED yes, then don't be concerned. God must be pleased with you. If it is no, then I would say we all have a lot more to do.

I know that I can never do enough to help the world's poorest people but I will spend the rest of my life doing all that I can sas often as I can for as many people as I can to live up to what Jesus asks me to do.

 

[Jamila]

I wish you all well.

IT'S NOT WHAT YOU'RE DREAMING, IT'S WHAT YOU'RE GONNA DO....

 

[dano]

The Church Awakens
Christians make AIDS fight a high priority.
By Rebecca Barnes in Louisville


AIDS didn't even make the list of concerns for World Vision in a 1999 urgent-issues report. But according to Ken Casey of the ministry's new HIV/AIDS hope (Hope, Orphans, Prevention, and Education) Initiative, World Vision "woke up" about three years ago to realize that the plague of the 21st century was unraveling all its other work.

"The AIDS pandemic is the greatest humanitarian crisis," Casey said. "It just begs a reaction from the church."

The church is now in full reaction mode. More than 2,000 Christian medical professionals, church leaders, and students gathered for the ninth annual Global Missions Health Conference, November 11-13, at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky. They spoke not only of statistics that confirmed the extent of the pandemic (43 million people living with HIV/AIDS; 8,000 deaths each day; 14 million orphans), but of working together.

Christians and churches are forming partnerships to prevent, treat, and care for affected people. Last fall Authentic Media published a book—The Hope Factor: Engaging the Church in the HIV/AIDS Crisis—that brought together the presentations from the 2003 conference.

In the last three years, World Vision has trained 491 pastors in 359 churches in 19 countries to take a biblical perspective on the pandemic. "When you actually are able to sit down with church leaders in the United States or Africa and go through the reality of what's going on and bring in scriptural principles, hearts warm up," Casey said.

World Vision, citing a Barna poll it commissioned, said American evangelical support for AIDS ministry is up significantly. The new poll found that 14 percent of respondents are willing to donate money for AIDS prevention and education overseas—compared with 5 percent in 2002.

Florence Muindi, a doctor, spoke of her work with Christian Missionary Fellowship International with a church in Ethiopia, where she cares for orphans and people living with AIDS. She said the strong U.S. church response to Africa has been an encouragement. "We feel embraced as we sit with our loved ones sick in bed and lose our workforce and see the damage. You have come alongside us."

Carl Stecker, senior program director of the aidsrelief art project, said former polarization over using condoms in prevention has given way to an emphasis on treatment. The $335 million ART (Anti-Retroviral Treatment) project brings together Catholic groups with a policy group and a research school to deliver treatment to 137,600 Africans and Haitians in five years.

According to Clydette Powell of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which will oversee the program, what distinguishes the Christian response to HIV/AIDS is the balance of prevention, treatment, and care.

Copyright © 2005 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.
January 2005, Vol. 49, No. 1, Page 22

 

[Jamila]

thanks, dano, for the article.

It is good to see more and more faith-based groups getting involved in the greatest fight for humanity in the world today.

Bono's hard work with the Church is beginning to show some real signs of growth - but there's always more to do!

THE GOAL IS SOUL....

 

[dano]

Sure thing Jam...

That article was on their website today and I immediately thought of your post and wanted to share this!

 

[pwmartin]

Nobody is doing enough to alleviate the suffering of those who have AIDS or who have been orphaned by AIDS.

As a Christian, I am thankful for those who "call me on the carpet," so to speak, for my faith's apparent lack of zeal on this matter. It is an arduous task, but that can't be our excuse for inaction. This, I fear, will factor into God's judgment of us.

That being said, I bet that if you were to go into Africa into an area with severe AIDS problems, you would find that Christians make up the overwhelming majority of those trying to help. The orphanages, the schools, the hospitals, the clinics...they are largely run and staffed and funded by church organizations, not organizations of athiests and agnostics.

I saw the same phenomenon in Cairo when I worked with the Sudanese refugee communities, another group who are among the poorest of the poor. While there were plenty of non-church-related aid workers trying to help the refugees, the bulk of the real dirty jobs and on-the-ground efforts to make refugees' lives better was done by Christian groups. Hands down.

 

[dano]

http://www.worldvision.org/hope

World Vision's Hope Initative to Fight AIDS. This site has a ticker on it that will break your heart...

It even contains a bit of a quote from our boy.

 

[Jamila]

World Vision has always been ONE of the preeminent organizations approaching the issues of development and emergency aid with a TRUE Christian perspective.

They are there to serve the needy and not to judge them. Excellent organization. And the Prayer Chain looks GREAT!

Thanks again. And pwmartin - your comments were wonderful.

I NEED SOMETHING OTHER....

 

[80sU2isBest]

World Vision is an excellent organization. I've had experience with them for years, so if you're considering giving to them, you can be sure the money goes where it's supposed to.