Ideas for your church to crawl, walk, and run in HIV/AIDS ministry

The C.H.U.R.C.H. strategy for church-based HIV/AIDS ministries offers six ways to minister to people with HIV/AIDS. Over the next several months, the HIV/AIDS Caring Community will offer you a crawl, walk, and run step for each of the six C.H.U.R.C.H. components.

The crawl steps are ideas any church can use, even a church that has never been involved in HIV/AIDS ministry before. The walk steps require more – perhaps more commitment, more time, or more understanding of HIV/AIDS. The run steps go even more in-depth, but like the crawl and walk steps, they, too, can be done by any church that is committed to stopping HIV/AIDS and to ministering to those affected by it.

C - Care for and support the sick
Churches are commanded to care. It is their calling. Love leaves no choice! Local congregations are the only caring organization found in almost every community around the world. Members can offer physical and emotional care in homes.

Crawl: Send a card, call, or visit someone who is sick. This requires only a few minutes of your time. You can choose to make it an ongoing, organized ministry of your church or just an informal way that individual members choose to reach out to those who are hurting.

Walk: Start a support group for people who are infected with or directly affected by HIV. A support group is just a regularly scheduled, biblically based meeting where people can share their stories, find connections, learn new skills, and be accepted in a Christ-centered environment. Learn more about how your church can start a support group >>

Run: Form a CARE Team – a church-based small group that comes alongside a person with HIV/AIDS, offering friendship, care, and support. A CARE Team doesn’t just offer love, but offers love expressed through loving deeds. Learn more about CARE Teams >>

H - Handle testing and counseling
Just being tested for HIV has been proven to promote healthier behavior. And churches are a great place to hold testing. In many communities, churches are the most trusted organizations, making people more willing to be tested and counseled there. With training, church members can give medical, emotional, and family counsel to people before HIV testing and after they receive their test results.

Here are three ideas for how your church can handle testing and counseling – from an easy idea that you can do immediately to suggestions that require more commitment and planning.

Crawl: Encourage members of your church to get tested for HIV. Explain what is involved in an HIV test, and let the congregation know where they can get tested. Visit this site to find a testing center near your church >>

Walk: Take a group from your church to be tested for HIV. Ideally, the senior pastor should lead the group and be the first to get tested. Knowing the senior pastor has been tested helps reduce the stigma in a congregation of being tested for HIV.

Run: If your local health regulations allow it, offer HIV testing in your church. Before the testing, train church members to comfort and counsel people before and after they receive their results. If local regulations don’t allow you to hold testing at your church, talk with health officials about ways your church can help with testing and counseling. For example, health officials might be willing to point people to your church as a place where they can receive counseling before and after their testing. Learn how one church handled testing >>