Finding Jesus in the Midst of AIDS

HIV/AIDS㬦 million people and counting! Twenty years ago, it was supposedly confined to marginal people, for whom the church felt, at best, detached, at worst, disdain. Now it has become our problem. Like a typhoon, the disease has now blown roughshod over Africa, devastating nations and cultures, collapsing the shaky structures of family and community. It lurks ominously in Eastern Europe, Russia, the Caribbean, Latin America, India, China, and Southeast Asia, about to break loose with relentless fury, rattling political and economic foundations to the core.

AIDS has become the litmus test for whether or not the Good News of the Gospel has any effect on a suffering world.

The church is no longer immune to its effects. Whether we want to be a good neighbor, evangelize in the heart of pain, or save our own souls, AIDS has become the litmus test for whether or not the good news of the gospel has any effect on a suffering world. The good news is that the Church of the Nazarene, even from the beginning of its embryonic AIDS ministry at Golden Gate Community Church in San Francisco, is addressing the disease with global and holistic intensity. Through Local Ministries In Bangkok, Thailand, Ceny Hirahara, Nazarene Compassionate Ministries (NCM) coordinator, and Suvit Amonkulsawat, project director, have created "New Life for Thai" (NLFT). For the past two years, this ministry has been sponsored by the Bangkok First Church of the Nazarene, and has offered services of counseling, visitation, HIV/AIDS awareness, medical assistance, food, education, and training. An AIDS center has been opened, and a branch ministry has been started in Fang, in northern Thailand. That ministry now reaches forty people, and seeks to reach fifty more in Fang. Already a number of people have received Christ through this ministry. The major evangelical Latino ministry to HIV/AIDS victims in Cleveland, Ohio, is Nazarene Proyecto Luz (Project Light), under the direction of Max Rodas. This ministry meets in its own building across from the local Nazarene Church and feeds people into that church. Counseling, education, referrals, and direct services are offered to people in that community. Specialized Ministries In India, the Reynolds Memorial Hospital, under Nazarene medical director and physician Arun Noah, operates a community blood bank and tests all blood for HIV. This provides valuable statistics on occurrences of the disease in this region. The hospital also tests mothers for the disease when their babies are delivered. Through gifts from Sun City, Arizona, Kansas City First Church, and NCM, the hospital is constructing a new ward for terminally ill patients, primarily suffering from cancer and HIV/AIDS. Due to be dedicated in 2005, this new ward will hold 30 beds. In Papua New Guinea, the Nazarene Community Health Services also provides both medical and moral instruction in a program in the Highlands known throughout the country. Regional Ministries Because two-thirds of all AIDS patients live in the sub-Saharan region of Africa, the effects of the disease have affected all levels of church life there. Our NCM coordinator for Africa is Trino Jara, cross-cultural missionary from Costa Rica. Jara cites information from Peter Piot, executive director of the United Nations AIDS organization: "In Africa, AIDS has had a catastrophic effect on food security. With millions killed by AIDS and millions more left ill, whole communities have been left defenseless when drought arrives. Women are three or four times more susceptible than men to contract the HIV virus due to different circumstances: ignorance, prostitution, sexual abuse, rape, initiation ceremonies involving sex, hunger, among others. Every day in Africa HIV/AIDS kills 6,500 people, 9,500 people are infected with the HIV virus, and 1,400 newborn babies are infected during childbirth or by their mother's milk." The Church of the Nazarene's answer, primarily expressed through the NCM Africa affiliate organization, Helping Hands comes in the form of a five-pronged approach:

• Leadership Training: More than 3,000 pastors and church leaders have received AIDS ministry training.
• Spiritual Support: Local churches have adopted 5,000 caregivers who are responsible for more than 20,000 AIDS orphans. When the church representatives are asked, "Why do you help us even when you don't know us? Why are you different?" we respond, "We help you, because we love you and because Jesus loves you."
• Prevention: Hundreds of churches are partnering with community leaders to communicate the message of "Abstinence Before: Fidelity After Marriage." The focus includes training thousands of youth leaders in 20 countries. Additionally, NCM and Helping Hands are developing a training program to help pastors and community leaders with AIDS crisis management, and to help children deal with grief. In Ethiopia, more than 250,000 people in the Jimma area, where the rate of infection is especially high, have been introduced to an aggressive prevention program.
• Education: Hundreds of our churches in countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cóte d'Ivoire, and nine other countries are offering formal education for 35,000 children. Another 25,000 are enrolled in Nazarene schools in Kenya. The curriculum includes the JESUS film and music and drama that highlight Christian lifestyles.
• Food Security: NCM and Helping Hands provide hundreds of communities with basic agricultural supplies to plant vegetable gardens that provide food for thousands of orphans. Already over 2,000 caregivers and 10,500 orphans have benefited from these contributions. Other forms of assistance include sewing machines and livestock for disadvantaged families, especially in Ethiopia and Uganda.

In all, more than 1.5 million African children are being reached by the ministries of the Church of the Nazarene, both in practical services and instruction. The South American region is also confronting the AIDS crisis as Brazilian churches aggressively lead in educational services. Their information campaign exhibits no restrictions in presenting "in your face" pictures of the physical devastation of AIDS. This confrontational method has brought positive results in reshaping moral values and attitudes. Denominational Ministries NCM, Inc., a non-profit affiliate of the Church of the Nazarene, acquires resources from outside of the denomination and has obtained a $44,400 (U.S.) grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development to train 600 pastors and community leaders in Mozambique and 300 in Malawi for AIDS education. They will also learn how to organize volunteers to provide in-home care to persons dealing with HIV/AIDS.

Could it be, that in the midst of the sick—especially those with AIDS—we find Jesus?

Bob Prescott, NCM, Inc. president, is seeking a sizable grant to support orphans and other children in seven African countries and Haiti. If approved, this grant will greatly expand our resources to these two world areas. The denomination, through its AIDS Task Force, has created a key document on HIV/AIDS intended to offer awareness, instruction, and practical help for Nazarenes. This disease can defeat us if we ignore it or react against it. Or it can give us new ministry possibilities that open doors, heal hearts and minds, stretch our theology, and exercise our compassion—resulting in our own renewal. Jesus said He did not come for those who are well, but for those who are sick. Could it be, that in the midst of the sick—especially those with AIDS—we find Jesus? Fletcher L. Tink is an urban missions specialist who has conducted urban and leadership training in 25 nations. He may be contacted at Tinkmetro@aol.com. Holiness Today, November/December 2004

 

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