Why it's a race against time: Orphans and
vulnerable children
You have probably seen the news about Madonna's recent adoption of a 13-month-old little boy from Malawi. Many individuals laud her care and support for this baby; others have questioned if it is in the child's best interest to be taken away from his father and his culture.
These are difficult issues. What is best?
This year's Global Summit on AIDS and the Church will offer practical ways your church can get involved in the care of orphans and vulnerable children. Read more>> Register for the summit>>
Kay Warren, co-founder, Saddleback Church, Lake Forest, Calif., and executive director of Saddleback Church's HIV/AIDS Initiative
Summit sneak preview: Ortberg says pastors should care about those with HIV because Jesus does
Want a sneak preview of the Global Summit on AIDS and the Church? Read how God changed summit speaker John Ortberg’s heart when AIDS became personal. Read more >>
From Tennessee to Africa, churches work together to address AIDS
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In 1999, John Thomas, senior pastor of Fish Hoek Baptist Church in Cape Town, South Africa, heard a statistic that changed his life: 44 percent of the people in a community just a mile from his church building were HIV positive. Though he later learned the real number was closer to 25 percent, he knew that if he did nothing about AIDS, he couldn’t face God on Judgment Day.
A few years later, Scott Harris, minister of missions at Brentwood Baptist Church in Brentwood, Tenn., had a similar experience. Read more >>
Your letters
Hi there,
My name is Anita Rushton, from Ladybrand, South Africa. HIV/AIDS hit our family personally when in May 2004, Tsidi, a long-term friend of ours, was diagnosed HIV positive. We fast realized that even though there are billboards and warnings all around us, we actually knew nothing about HIV/AIDS. In a quest to find out more, my husband, Ian, and I attended a life-changing workshop presented by CABSA [Christian AIDS Bureau for Southern Africa]. The dream of CABSA is to see the Church respond and become a caring and active community in the field of HIV/AIDS. We decided to be trained as facilitators for this specific workshop of church mobilization.
During this training, the Lord highlighted the plight of 'child-headed households' and in response he birthed the idea of Jewels of Hope, which trains orphaned children in jewelry making, markets the product, and thereby creates an income generation for them that is both safe and legitimate while they are able to continue their schooling. We like to see it as an 'urban food security' program as in the urban townships the children need capital to survive. Read more>>
For the children,
Anita
What is your church doing in HIV/AIDS ministry? The Caring Community Update wants to know. Share your story >>
