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What exactly is a CARE Team?
By Peg Rose
A CARE Team is a church-based small group that comes alongside a person with HIV/AIDS in its own community, offering friendship, care, and support.
“It’s not just about offering ‘love’ but loving deeds,” explained Saddleback CARE Team leader Elizabeth Styffe.
Especially when caring for individuals not involved in a church, caring for people must simply be about caring – not about “force-fed proselytizing,” Styffe said. “People can’t trust sticky-sweet words with agendas attached.”
In CARE Teams, small groups care for individuals together, following the biblical model of living and serving in community. “People with HIV/AIDS are often surprised that a group recognizes the stigma and fear associated with HIV and is willing to just show up in their life,” Styffe said. “The power of presence communicates authentic love that changes lives.”
CARE Teams are a corollary of the P.E.A.C.E. Plan. “The world is full of ‘do-gooders,’” Styffe said. “One of the things that makes the P.E.A.C.E. Plan vision unique is that we believe the hope of the world is found in the local church.”
Through the P.E.A.C.E. Plan, ordinary church members – not health care professionals – work together in small groups to love and care for those who are HIV positive.
“We believe that God has called the local church to live, work, and serve in community,” Styffe said. “To that end, we follow what Pastor Rick Warren has given us as the P.L.A.N.
The P.L.A.N. for CARE Teams is: 1. Purpose Driven – CARE Teams are powered by the purpose of coming alongside those infected or affected by HIV/AIDS in their local communities, assisting them in living out a purpose driven life.
2. Led by small groups – CARE Teams are small groups that follow a strategy to provide care. They are not small groups formed only to care for those with HIV. They are purpose driven small groups that meet regularly for Bible study and the other purposes. Caring for someone with HIV is a way the small groups live out their mission in the world, but it is not the defining element that keeps the small groups together. The small group dynamic promotes healthy relationships. Working together enables these small groups to serve without any one person feeling over-burdened, and as a team they are accountable to one another.
CARE Teams are asked to commit to one year, serving from less than an hour to four hours per week, to provide a variety of services and support for the person with HIV/AIDS. CARE Teams have been known to pick up groceries, drive to doctor appointments, go to church together if they desire, offer light housekeeping, prepare meals, serve as reading partners, walk dogs, or just call frequently. The possibilities are endless, but always guided by what the cared-for individuals have said they need.
3. Attacks global giants – Like the P.E.A.C.E. Plan itself, CARE Teams follow a holistic approach, looking at the needs of the entire person. This includes caring for a person’s physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. What makes CARE Teams unique is that they are not afraid to address individuals’ spiritual needs, said Styffe. They do not press an agenda, but they respond to individuals’ expressed desires.
4. Networks church to church - If the CARE Team’s friend is interested in seeking spiritual nourishment, the CARE Team works to establish a link to a local church to provide that feeding. It’s not about creating converts to any denomination. It’s about using local church resources to meet needs.
5. Sends to the whole world – CARE Teams are exponential in strategy and preparation; the model can be transferred anywhere across the globe. Multiplied through local churches around the world, they have the potential to reach those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS everywhere.
When it comes to finding HIV/AIDS survivors in a community, the church or CARE Team may need to make the first step. Be willing to introduce yourself to health care organizations, Styffe said. Don’t expect them to come to you.
“Confidentiality is a huge factor,” Styffe said. “CARE Teams are trained to respond to the HIV/AIDS survivor’s needs and not to impose their own agenda.”
Related article: Caring for people with HIV/AIDS: What small groups considering this ministry need to know
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