december 1, 2005
The Church Responds on World AIDS Day
Every hour 354 people die of AIDS. That’s about one person every ten seconds. That's like a Boeing 747 crashing every hour, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
More than three million people die annually from a largely preventable, but incurable disease, and the pace of this global pandemic continues to accelerate. According to Michael Ireland of Assist News Service, the AIDS pandemic is the greatest humanitarian challenge the world, and the Church, has ever faced. Every December 1, on World AIDS Day, millions of people take note of these facts and remember those who are suffering.
The Global AIDS Prayer Partnership is launching two new initiatives to help mobilize an evangelical response to the AIDS pandemic in time for World AIDS Day -- Global AIDS Sunday and Three Million Voices – to mobilize prayer intercession and compassionate action.
The Church in Action
Until recently however, the evangelical church has been largely unconcerned and even judgmental toward AIDS and those suffering under the burden of this global emergency. That is changing as more evangelical leaders speak out and call the Church to respond. Local church participation in World AIDS Day is still lacking, but a new strategic prayer ministry is helping change that.
The Global AIDS Prayer Partnership (GAPP), a growing coalition of evangelical Christian organizations, denominations and local churches, is at the forefront of this change. GAPP is chaired by Dr. Paul Cedar, chairman of the Mission America Coalition. Dr. Ted Yamamori, international director of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, serves as special advisor to Brian Considine, international coordinator and executive director for GAPP. GAPP will also serve as the official voice of Lausanne on HIV/AIDS.
Now entering the second year of operation, GAPP has been building a platform for united prayer to create awareness of AIDS, and has primarily targeted the United States evangelical community in their efforts.
“There are reported a one hundred million evangelicals in the United States,” reported Considine. “If we can get just a small fraction responding to this crisis, we can make a huge difference in our world. And, the easy ‘on-ramp’ to involving the local church is prayer.”
Global AIDS Sunday
GAPP and its coalition partners are introducing two new initiatives this December. The first, “Global AIDS Sunday,” is an annual call to prayer, remembrance and awareness “The evangelical community has largely been absent on World AIDS Day, due principally to the secular nature of the day, but we must change that,” stated Considine.
Global AIDS Sunday will be held annually on the two Sunday’s adjacent to World AIDS Day. Resources will be made available for participating churches. “We are encouraging local churches to set aside a few minutes, on the Sunday of their choice, to remember and pray for all those who are suffering from HIV/AIDS,” Considine said. “We are also encouraging Christians to learn what is happening in their communities on World AIDS Day, to get involved and to bear the light of Christ.”
Three Million Voices
The second initiative, “Three Million Voices,” is representative of the three million people who die annually due to AIDS and AIDS-related diseases. The purpose of this campaign is to mobilize intercession and compassionate action for those who die annually from AIDS. The hope is to help millions of children left orphaned or vulnerable, and assist devastated families and communities and potentially even entire nations.
A “Declaration of Commitment” to a lifestyle of prayer-care-share toward the end of AIDS is the centerpiece of this new initiative. Church leaders across America are signing the declaration and calling the Church to do likewise. Organizers hope to have 100,000 signatures to present at the International AIDS Conference in Toronto next summer. Online signing will begin 1 December.
“The evangelical community must rise up to the challenge of AIDS, both locally and globally, if we are to be relevant in the twenty-first century,” emphasized Considine. “To that end, we seek to build a movement towards an epidemic of compassion and for Christians everywhere to pray to end AIDS.” Global AIDS Sunday and Three Million Voices are two ways to get involved this World AIDS Day.
For more information, visit www.praytoendAIDS.com and www.globalaidsprayer.org or email Info@GlobalAIDSPrayer.org.
HIV/AIDS and the Gospel will be the focus of the December issue of www.LausanneWorldPulse.com, available online December 1.
If you would like to do an interview with Brian Considine, please contact Naomi Frizzell at naomi@lausanne.org or call 1.904.262.5202 (US).
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