Online Archives

BY ERIK ALSGAARD

At the risk of being repetitiously redundant and repeating myself over and over and over, I?m going to write about HIV/AIDS again. And the reason is simple: I was told to.

See, I attended the 'Lighten the Burden' conference recently in Washington (see my story, page 1). It was the first gathering of United Methodists who work on the issue of HIV/AIDS in the last 20 years.

The good news? There is hope. More on that in a minute.

The bad news? Sit down. We?ve got lots to talk about.

Participants at the conference were told the horrifying statistics: 40 million people have the HIV virus right now; most of those people ? 60 percent ? live in Africa below the Sahara desert; nearly 8,000 people die every day of the virus; 14 million children around the world have been orphaned because their parents have died of the disease; and about 600,000 children every year become infected.

The HIV virus doesn?t care if you?re black, white, green or purple. It doesn?t care if you?re rich or poor (though the poor are much more likely to get the disease because people who live in poverty often lack adequate health care), male or female, gay or straight.

All HIV cares about is a place to set up shop: your body. And when it does, because it suppresses your immune system, diseases like tuberculosis and malaria find easy hosts.

One problem I learned was that HIV/AIDS people die one by one, so no one really notices. It?s not like a jet crash killing hundreds at once, or a suicide car bomber doing the same. Instead, HIV/

AIDS is a more silent killer, taking victims quietly.

I could go on with the bad news, but it has become pretty common knowledge by now.

And that brings me to the good news. We ? the church ? can and must break the silence.

At the conference we were told bringing hope and healing to the AIDS pandemic is part of our calling, part of our DNA as church. If we lose our healing and hope-bringing ministry, we have lost something critically important; nay, I think we sin.

The trouble is, many people in our local churches don?t want to get involved, or think we shouldn?t get involved in this issue because then you have to deal with the facts of how the disease is transmitted and that means sex and God forbid we talk about that in church.

Take a deep breath.

I?m going to offer you some tips on how to start your own HIV/AIDS ministry in your church. And if, as one of the panelists at the conference, Lonny LeFever, said, people at your church try to stop you from this ministry because AIDS hasn?t affected your church yet, simply say, 'Well, I?m going to start this ministry now so we?ll be ready when it comes.'

First, pray. Pray for those who are living with the virus around the corner and around the world. Pray for those people who are taking care of the HIV-positive people around the world. Pray for the children left orphaned. Pray for the children infected.

Next, develop more knowledge about this disease; take your learning deeper.

For example, do you know how the virus is transmitted? Do you, really? Can you pick it up from door handles? Toilet seats? Shaking hands? Do you know how many people are infected in your area? Answers to these and other questions are easily found on the Web.

Next, seek to serve. Get out your phone book and look in the yellow pages or, if you?re under 40, go online and search under AIDS. In many communities across our conference there are already agencies working with HIV and AIDS. Don?t let this deter you, because you?re not coming to the table to be an expert, you?re coming to the table to help, to volunteer, to assist. Find out what the need is and ?

Lastly, serve. Ask for volunteers to fill the need. Plan an event around National Latino AIDS Awareness Day on Oct. 15, or World AIDS Day on Dec. 1, or National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness and Information Day on Feb. 7, 2007. Partner with your local AIDS agency in offering regular educational opportunities for church and community. Offer free HIV screening in your church. Participate in the Hope Fund of the Baltimore-Washington Conference, where one-fifth of the money raised supports the United Methodist Global AIDS Fund (visit www.bwcumc.org for more information).

And if you can?t do any of that, and even if you can, speak out. Put a face on AIDS. I did that in my earlier editorial by introducing you to Dena.

So again, I speak out. I encourage you, I beg you: get involved. It doesn?t matter, church, how someone contracted the disease. What matters is this: People are dying every day from this disease and we can help stop it and we can provide healing and hope to those who already have it.

So, are you gonna help, or what?

SIDEBAR:
Give to The Hope Fund

Local churches throughout the conference will have the opportunity to make pledges and gifts to The Hope Fund, beginning with charge conferences this month. In the face of some of this world?s harshest realities, the people of the Baltimore-Washington Conference are invited to offer more than dollars; they are invited to bring healing and hope.

In the next three years, the almost 200,000 United Methodist in this region will raise $1 million to rebuild Mississippi Gulf churches damaged by Hurricane Katrina, combat the epidemic of HIV/AIDs now sweeping the globe by contributing to the United Methodist Global AIDS Fund, and fortify our partnership with Zimbabwe.

For more information on The Hope Fund, visit www.bwcumc.org and click on The Hope Fund button, or e-mail the Rev. Daryl Williams at