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Challenging the Faith Community to Respond to AIDS
We have been late to arrive, World Vision president tells pastors
By Jennifer Lytle
 FEDERAL WAY, May 14, 2003 — More than 90 pastors from the Puget Sound region were welcomed to World Vision headquarters yesterday to hear about the AIDS pandemic and at the same time were challenged to do something about it. World Vision president Rich Stearns told the audience, “In 100 years, historians will look back at the 21st century through the lens of HIV/AIDS and ask ‘where was the Church?’”
With 8,000 people dying every day, the impact of AIDS is devastating and far-reaching. It is decimating the most productive segment of African society, Stearns explained. In some communities, children do not attend school because so many teachers have died, and the loss of farmers has contributed to southern Africa’s current food crisis.
Citing James 1:27 (“look after orphans and widows in their distress”) and Mark 1:40-45 (Jesus healing a leper), Stearns made clear that Christians should be reaching out to those in need. He also emphasized the appropriateness of the Church becoming involved in AIDS prevention. He called youth between ages 5 and 15 a “window of hope” if they can be kept infection-free and taught biblical values of abstinence and monogamy in marriage. “Who better than the Church and faith community to bring this message?” he asked.
 After his opening remarks, Stearns yielded the podium to an energized Princess Kasune Zulu. Zulu is a World Vision AIDS educator in Zambia. She is married, the mother of two daughters, and HIV-positive. “I want to bring this home so that you can see a face of those we are talking about,” Zulu began. Saying that her story echoed that of millions of young people in Africa, Zulu asked, “Is this not something that would break the heart of Jesus Christ?”
To the assembled pastors and church staff members, Zulu said, “The Church is a watchtower. It has an obligation to warn its people about a disease that is preventable.” Zulu is in the United States helping World Vision activate the faith community. She is advocating, among other things, for increased child sponsorship in areas vulnerable to HIV.
Never digressing far from her core message of hope, Zulu said, “With Christ all things are possible.” She fervently declared, “I shall not die before I am dead. I have a reason to live.” Her role is to educate and more: “I speak for the orphans who do not have a chance to speak.”
After their individual presentations, Stearns and Zulu joined Dr. Ted Green and Dr. Joe Riverson in a question-and-answer session. Green is a medical anthropologist at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies. Riverson, from Ghana, has served with World Vision for 20 years. Asked about the availability of anti-retroviral drugs (ARD), Riverson said that many African countries spend no more than $5 per person annually for health care services. ARD treatments are expensive, he explained, and even if costs come down, “what about other health care needs?”
Asked about hurdles to changing behavior—which would help curtail further spread of the disease—Green responded that the biggest obstacle is simply a lack of emphasis on behavior change. “We don’t promote (it),” he said.
Panelists agreed that the “ABC” model—which encourages Abstinence before marriage, Being faithful to your spouse, and Condoms in certain circumstances—is the one to champion. Stearns prefers the “capital A, capital B, small c” approach. He stressed, “If you know the numbers and that this is deadly, the obvious prescription is to tell kids to abstain.” Moreover, condoms can fail and, according to Green, they can be “disinhibiting.” Nevertheless Riverson said sometimes their use is preferred, for example, when a woman is HIV-negative and her husband is infected, or among high-risk populations such as commercial sex workers.
Those attending the breakfast event were offered a “toolkit for pastors” to help them present the topic of HIV/AIDS to their congregations. World Vision also invited pastors to travel to Africa to see the needs firsthand. “You can see the situation and the hope. When you come back, tell us how you want to get involved,” World Vision’s Jim Schmick urged the guests. |
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