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| National Evangelical Leaders Sound Call to Action in Global AIDS Fight Event is part of World Vision’s 15-city Hope Tour By Michael Camp, Senior Writer WASHINGTON, DC, June 11, 2003 – Challenged to be good Samaritans on the Jericho road of AIDS, more than 100 evangelical leaders from across the country signed a statement of con- science on the global AIDS crisis and answered the call to take action against this deadly disease. A two-day policy forum spurred this unprecedented national evangelical response to HIV/AIDS. Convened by World Vision, World Relief, MAP International, and the National Association of Evangelicals, the event drew more than 240 U.S. church and organizational representatives. Attendees heard a plethora of speakers—including health experts, government officials, pastors, and aid agency leaders—on the scale, scope, and current situation of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, particularly in Africa. “Twenty-nine million people are infected with HIV/AIDS in Africa today, while 17 million have already died,” related Claude Allen from the Department of Health and Human Services, who began with a list of sobering statistics. In recent years, World Vision not only talks about this, it made HIV/AIDS interventions a centerpiece of its international programs calling it the Hope Initiative, which focuses on prevention, care, and advocacy with special emphasis on assisting orphans and widows. And, it is engaging churches to take concrete action in response to what Stearns calls “perhaps the greatest humanitarian crisis of all time.” Today, with 8,000 deaths and 14,000 infections per day worldwide, HIV/AIDS has eclipsed other historic catastrophes such as the bubonic plague and World War II. A Call to the Church Stearns and other leaders such as Clive Calver, president of World Relief, and Rick Warren, senior pastor of Saddleback Church in California, made powerful calls for the American Church to take a leading role in combating this devastating disease and caring for those affected by it. After citing a familiar parable of Jesus, Stearns asked, “Who are the good Samaritans on the Jericho road of AIDS?” Warren told attendees that through this issue, “the integrity of the Church is being tested.” Calver lamented that perhaps we are meeting here 15 years late. “Our compassion must be one that breaks our hearts and transforms our lives. Our hand must be offered without gain for ourselves, but to serve national churches. Finally, we must not go it alone,” he challenged. The partnership theme was reiterated time and again during the first day that ended with a group of 150 evangelical leaders going across town to meet with policy aides of President Bush. The president supported the recently passed AIDS bill that authorized $15 billion to fund relief for AIDS victims over five years. The White House meeting and visit to Capital Hill the second day are opportunities for these leaders to petition congressional committees who approve actual spending of the money in annual budgets—money that would help faith-based agencies create or expand HIV/AIDS programs. But one panelist, Dr. Johann Mostert, who described examples of effective HIV/AIDS ministries, reminded the audience, “this is not about $15 billion, but about the Church’s response, with or without this government funding.” The Uganda Model Attendees learned of one shining example of hope—the national AIDS initiative in Uganda. Uganda’s HIV/AIDS rate fell from 21 percent in the early 1990s to 6 percent today. This was due to President Museveni’s bold leadership, a strategy that broke the stigma of the disease, and the promotion of common sense messages. These included its ABC approach, which stands for Abstinence, Be faithful, and when necessary, use Condoms. “Condoms have a role, but cannot become the main means to stem the disease,” said Dr. Ted Green, a research scientist at Harvard University. He said the evidence in Uganda reveals that abstinence and fidelity messages—what churches want to convey—are actually the most effective. Leaders Speak Out Many pastors attended the forum from all over the country, and several from Africa. Craig McElvan of Heartland Community Church near Kansas City wondered how to respond to the challenge. “I’ll take this information back to my church, but I want people to become personally involved, and this call to become part of who we are… not a one-time offering.” Rich Craven, a pastor of the 3,000-member Church of the Savior in Wayne, Pennsylvania, agreed. “I came here to listen and learn God’s heart. We’ll need to think through what a good model of compassion is and avoid a guilt-ridden response from people that won’t last long term.” Other leaders included Susy Cheston of Opportunity International, an agency that specializes in microenterprise development. “In Africa, we already blend our programs with HIV/AIDS interventions, so this wasn’t all new to me. What is valuable is all the ways that people made the case for Christians to be involved. That will help us communicate with our supporters the importance of integrating this with economic empowerment.” Toward the end of the program, Pastor Rick Warren observed how each speaker’s message reinforced others’ points. “God is obviously in this,” he said. “If God has given us this Goliath, there must be some Davids out there to take it down.” Those Davids may come out of the 102 attendees who signed the “Statement of Conscience of the Evangelical Church concerning the Global HIV/AIDS Crisis,” and thereby committed, as followers of Christ, to address this challenge with God’s help. |  |
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