13 July 2002

by Nigel Marsh - Hope Communications

BARCELONA, WEDNESDAY - While international organizations and governments are vying to position themselves as 'global leaders' in the fight against AIDS, the Barcelona conference reveals the strategic position in which faith based communities find themselves where it really counts - on the ground.

"We are witnesses here in Barcelona on behalf of the churches who are on the front line in prevention and education, acceptance and care, helping the dying and providing for orphans," said Ken Casey, leader of the WVI Hope Initiative.

"We have no embarrassment about promoting the church and the work we are doing with them. World Vision has already begun to help faith communities develop their role, and we are learning from them in the areas where local congregations have already had tremendous success.

"All over Africa we find pastors and volunteers who are performing a Herculean task in caring for the sick and the orphans, and supporting communities that have been shaken to the core by the horror that has come among them."

Rev Canon Gideon Byamugisha, the World Vision Hope Initiative church relations specialist in Uganda, has proven to be a well-received and authoritative voice in the meeting rooms of the Barcelona conference, and from his regular vantage point on the World Council of Churches stand. As the first African priest to acknowledge his positive HIV status, he has ample opportunity to talk about the stigma and discrimination he faced in the church, and the remarkable force for good that the church can become when properly taught and led.

"There are so many examples of churches and Christians who have mobilized themselves to fight against AIDS in Africa, and yet the church is often thought of as an obstacle rather than a contributing partner," said Byamugisha today.

"I've come a long way, from criticizing church leaders to sympathising with them. For many of them the only text book on AIDS they have is the Bible - they are not refusing to change their views, they are failing to change their views because of their limited information. How many religious leaders have been invited to come and have their views challenged here in Barcelona, for instance?

"Yet where religious leaders are properly taught about AIDS, and their churches respond in love instead of judgement, we see we are not powerless. Rather than AIDS impacting us, we impact the pandemic."

World Vision is clearly in a position to provide a solution for churches across the world who want to get involved in the fight, said Christo Greyling, World Vision South Africa's HIV/AIDS coordinator. Christo, who has been living with AIDS for nearly two decades, has made two 'poster presentations' during the course of the week, and his presentation on a technique to mobilize local congregations has generated interest from religious representatives from churches all over Africa and Asia who are present.

"A man from the Presbyterian church in Hong Kong was nearly in tears when he was talking to me," said Greyling. "He said this was exactly the sort of thing he wanted to do, but he didn't know how to begin - he added that the church in Hong Kong has got its head in the sand on this issue.

"The obvious question for all these churches is how our work translates across the cultures in terms of sensitivity. I said we have done this in different cultural environments already. The point is not to teach people what's wrong with their culture, it's to help them to understand the principles and think them through in terms of their culture."

In order to propagate the technique it will be important to train facilitators from throughout South Africa, Africa and the world, added Greyling. A simple manual will not work, and nor will a continued emphasis on information for church leaders without follow up action.

"What I am picking up from talking to religious leaders is that what they get all the time is a lot of talk about awareness, but it doesn't challenge them - how do you establish a good work in the church that reduces the transmission of HIV and helps the vulnerable in the community?"

Casey outlines five broad reasons why the local church makes a worthy partner in the fight against AIDS:

• the church has the reach - 90% of some sub-Saharan nations are directly or indirectly impacted by the church.There is no other organization with the same presence from the cities to the smallest communities
• the church has the call - Christian congregations have the internal drive and motivation to 'love their neighbors' and reach out with unselfish care and compassion to the hurting, the sick and the bereaved
• the church has the staying power - in terms of sustainability, the church has proven its ability to stay the course. If it adopts the best practice in terms of responding to AIDS, those interventions are here to stay
• the church has the moral authority - pastors and preachers are respected and listened to in Africa, and they have a recognized right to speak into lifestyle and morality even on the most sensitive cultural issues
• the church has the hope - with practical love and redemptive preaching, churches can deliver hope for this life and the next. People living with HIV and AIDS need nourishment for both body and soul that the church can provide