General Conference opens with hope
Personal ministry makes disciples
UMC formally admits Ivory Coast
Madam President, Mama President
Church retains stance on human sexuality
Pain and protest: A Good News response
Young people: a church to call home
Doubts arise following cellphone gifts
Sometimes a cellphone is just a cellphone
Deeds, not words, make disciples
Former abortion clinic owner shares story
U.S. Christians don’t feel persecution pain
Moved by the “water and the Spirit”
Church key to fighting AIDS crisis
Episcopal address focuses on hope
General Conference tackles global issues
Points of order, points of grace
CONFERENCE COMMENTARY
United Methodist teambuilding: Acevedo
Looking to the future with hope: Hamilton
Priorities transcend differences: McCurry
The dilemma of 3 Simple Rules: Reisman
COLUMNS
Editorial Reflections on the 2008 General Conference
RENEW Women’s Network Aftermath
Culture in View To Be a Friend of Caspian
Next Generation Responding to Speakaphobia
The Great Commission Brokenness
From the Hear Prison Praise
When it comes to solving the global AIDS/HIV crisis it is time to “pray and pay,” said the Rev. Donald Messer, author of Breaking the Conspiracy of Silence—Christian Churches and the Global AIDS Crisis. He shared the sobering statistics of the virus during the United Methodist Global AIDS Fund Committee’s “Lighten the Burden II” event at First United Methodist Church in Fort Worth on April 22.
On the eve of the 2008 United Methodist General Conference, the denomination has only raised $2.5 million of an $8 million commitment made in 2004 to help put a stop to the world’s greatest health crisis, according to the executive director of an ecumenical global AIDS action network.
The $8 million goal established by the 2004 General Conference represented a $1 commitment from every United Methodist in the United States. Messer, executive director of the Center for the Church and Global AIDS, reported as of 2008, 32 of 63 United Methodist annual (regional) conferences in the United States have not contributed anything to the fund.
Messer said raising funds has been hampered by fear, theological taboos, and stigma surrounding the epidemic.
Diseases of poverty: Bishop Joao Somane Machado, episcopal leader of the Mozambique Annual Conference, told seminar participants he lives with the consequences of the diseases of poverty—AIDS/HIV, tuberculosis and malaria—every day.
In Mozambique, the epidemic has reduced life expectancy from 41 years in 1999 to 38.1 years in 2004. Millions of children are orphans because one or both of their parents have died from the virus.
“Millions of people have nothing to eat,” he said. “They can’t take medicine when they have nothing to eat because it becomes a poison.” The drugs used to treat AIDS/HIV are harsh on a person’s system and cannot be taken on an empty stomach.
Living with AIDS: The Rev. Shane Stanford told the gathering about his first-hand experiences as a “person living with AIDS.” Stanford, a hemophiliac, got AIDS from a blood transfusion when he was 16. When his doctor told him he was HIV positive he said he had to make a choice to live or die.
“I decided to fight.”
Stanford has faced many obstacles because of his disease. A Mississippi church rejected him as their pastor when they learned that he was HIV positive. That congregation later apologized for its action.
He is the teaching pastor for Main Street United Methodist Church in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and is host for The United Methodist Hour and for Time That Makes the Difference, a television program airing in more than 5 million homes weekly.
“We all deal with some condition, we all have broken edges,” said Stanford. “We can’t do everything but everyone can do something.”
Gloriously ruined: Kay Warren, an author and AIDS activist, told participants, “God has a plan, and God intends the church to be the answer” to the AIDS/HIV crisis.
“The church is the missing link and must take a seat at the table to solve the problem,” she said.
Warren started the HIV/AIDS Initiative at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, where weekly attendance exceeds 22,000. She began the initiative after she read an article describing the effects of AIDS and how 12 million children had been orphaned by the crisis. “I wondered what was wrong with my faith when so many were suffering and I didn’t know anyone with HIV/AIDS.”
“Six years ago, I didn’t care about HIV/AIDS,” she said. “I thought it was a gay man’s disease and therefore I didn’t have to care. I am embarrassed to admit that.” She said she became a “gloriously ruined woman” when she learned about the millions who are suffering and dying. “I hope that shatters you, too,” she said. “We have to be seriously disturbed before we are compelled to do anything.”
Warren outlined how every local church can get involved and “crawl, walk, or run” to stop the HIV/AIDS virus from killing millions more. She said it is within everyone’s grasp to save lives and make sure children are not left orphans. “You can ask infected persons if they are taking their medicine everyday,” she said. “It is that simple.”
“We want to change the hearts of every United Methodist,” Messer said. He and other members and friends of the global AIDS fund will carry on a “thank you” campaign during the 2008 General Conference to draw attention to what has been done and what is yet to be done.
Kathy L. Gilbert is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tennessee.
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