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Caring: The first step in addressing HIV/AIDS
By Manda Gibson
Every church – regardless of size, make-up, location, or denomination – can care about HIV/AIDS. But the fact is that many churches never even think of the issue, says Kay Warren, wife of Rick Warren – senior pastor of Saddleback Church.
“It’s not so much they don’t care as they’re not aware,” Warren said.
For most of her life, Warren wasn’t aware of, and therefore didn’t care about, HIV/AIDS either. Then God opened her eyes and heart to the crisis, and he’s using her to help change other Christians’ hearts too.
Warren said it’s critical that pastors and other followers of Jesus care about the HIV/AIDS crisis because caring for the sick is an issue close to the heart of God. For church leaders who haven’t been acutely aware of or actively concerned about HIV/AIDS, Warren suggests they start by reading God’s Word.
“You need little convincing when you read the Word,” Warren. “Just pick up the Bible. Read it. Read how God says we must care for the sick. Read how Jesus interacted with the sick.”
She admits that for many years, she read Scripture and failed to see all God said about caring for the sick, weak, and disenfranchised. Now, though, she feels like she rarely reads a page that doesn’t address those issues. She says that, to see those issues addressed in Scripture, you just have to look for them.
“Look at Scripture with an eye to what God has to say for caring for the sick.” Warren said. “Let the grid be, ‘What does God say about the widow, the sick, and the orphan?’ They will jump out at you; they will grab you.”
Jesus spent one-third of his ministry time healing people, she added. “He took the time to touch the sick person, look people in the face, and engage them in conversation.”
The theme is true in the Old Testament too. “God speaks of his care for people who are ill,” Warren said. “In Ezekiel 34, God just chastises the shepherds of Israel for not caring for the sick and wounded and broken.
“It’s an unmistakable point. As the shepherds, they are to care for the sick and injured and weak.”
She says the same is true today for the HIV/AIDS pandemic, which is decimating families around the world. Christians, including pastors, have a responsibility to care and respond.
Once someone has read Scripture to understand God’s heart for the sick, that person should pick up a newspaper or turn on the television to watch the news. “Translate what you’ve just read in the Word to today’s events,” she said. “I used to read Scripture and think those things applied to people in the past. I was not making connection to what was in the Word and what happened in my world today.
“There is a connection between what God has to say and what is happening in every community.”
By making that connection, you allow God’s heart of care and compassion to become a reality in your own heart, Warren said. “For me, there was a repentance step. I had to confess I had not cared the way God does. After that repentance, it seemed like God just flooded my heart with his love for others. That doesn’t come naturally.”
Once you’ve allowed God to fill you with his love for others, the next step is to ask two questions: What can I do as a person? and What can my church do collectively?
What every church can do
Learn six things every church can do about HIV/AIDS: - Care for and support those infected and affected
- Handle testing and counseling
- Unleash a volunteer labor force
- Reduce stigma
- Champion healthy behavior
- Help with medication and nutrition
Learn more >>
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