AIDS Crisis: What We Can Do

Over forty million people today are living with HIV/AIDS. In 2005, three million people died of AIDS, and half a million of them were children. The reality is dark.

But in darkness, even one small flame of light makes a difference. And the church of Jesus Christ is bringing light into the darkness of the AIDS crisis all over the world.

In Cambodia, the Way of Hope church is helping communities understand how AIDS is transmitted. And through their "Hope for Teens" program, small groups meet with a mentor to talk so that teenagers can make responsible choices about sexuality and education.

In Rwanda, a church pairs up skilled workers in the congregation with children orphaned by AIDS to train and equip them.

In Kigali, Rwanda, Pastor Augustin has taken in Tatu, whose extended family refused to take care of her when her parents died of AIDS. A Good Samaritan support group for men and women with AIDS also meets at their church.

Like these churches, this book is a flame. Deborah Dortzbach and Meredith Long offer personal stories, up-to-date statistics and their years of international experience to give us the global portrait of AIDS: the roots of the problem and the role of the church. They teach us to listen. They allow us to observe. They help us become informed so that we can become involved, partnering with brothers and sisters already at work around the world loving, lobbying, caring, praying.

"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it" (Jn 1:5). Here is a book to help us see how the light of Christ shining through his church can change the course of the current AIDS crisis.

Through the programs, she mobilizes and equips the local church to promote and provide AIDS awareness, sexual education for youth, orphan support and much more. Debbie and her husband Karl first served as missionaries in Eritrea where she was abducted by the Eritrean Liberation Front in 1973. The story is chronicled in their book Kidnapped.

In 2002 Debbie testified before a United States Subcommittee on HIV/AIDS and continues to promote active involvement of churches in the AIDS crisis through frequent speaking engagements, radio interviews and articles.

W. Meredith Long is director of international programs for World Concern. Previously he served as Vice President for Planning at World Relief. Dr. Long has worked with churches to combat HIV/AIDS in Africa since the early 1990s.

His overseas program implementation experience includes 14 years in Kenya and Bangladesh. He is the author of Health, Healing and God's Kingdom, which examines the interplay between health and traditional religious beliefs.