New Guidebook Offers Help to Pastors in Addressing AIDS

“And as Jesus passed by he saw a man who was blind from birth, and his disciples asked him, saying, ‘Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘Neither hath this man sinned nor his parents, but that the works of God should be manifest in him.’ ”

--John 9:1-3

In this biblical passage, said Bishop Kenneth Ulmer, is a message as important today as it was 2,000 years ago, as applicable to people with AIDS as it was to those with leprosy or blindness.

“The Bible gives many scenarios of people coming to Jesus in need of healing,” said Ulmer, pastor of Faithful Central Baptist Church in Inglewood. “I do not recall Jesus getting into a discussion about how they got that way.”

Instead, Jesus showed an unwavering compassion, Ulmer said, and so must Christians today.

These are the lessons contained in a new book for pastors called “Healing Begins Here: A Pastor’s Guidebook for HIV/AIDS Ministry Through the Church.”

Publication of the guide was a collaborative effort between the Statewide HIV/AIDS Church Outreach Advisory Board and the California Department of Health Services’ AIDS office.

Unveiled at a news conference Tuesday at Faithful Central, the book is part of an ongoing effort to encourage African American ministers to use their pulpits to help stop the spread of AIDS in the black community.

The guidebook is part AIDS primer, part how-to manual for ministers seeking to address HIV and AIDS in their community.

It includes Scripture, sermon notes, full sermons and testimonials. One chapter is titled “Myth vs. Reality, HIV 101.” Another offers advice on starting an AIDS ministry.

“The publishing of a book informs pastors that it is all right to deal with the issues from every possible positive perspective,” said the Rev. Charles Blake, pastor of West Angeles Church of God in Christ. “Not only is it all right, here are some guidelines.”

In 1998, African Americans accounted for 23% of the AIDS cases reported in California, even though they make up only 7% of the population, said Vanessa Baird, acting chief of the state’s AIDS office.

Churches have long occupied a position of trust and respect in the black community, and organizers are hoping their involvement will be more effective in preventing the spread of the disease than other efforts have been.

“The state recognizes that the church is a pillar of the African American community,” Baird said.

Early in the epidemic, many African American churches were silent about the disease. Today that is impossible, pastors say, because AIDS is far too pervasive. Their congregations include those infected and victims’ families and friends.

“We have had several funerals in this church,” Ulmer said. “You cannot as a minister be exposed to the devastation and not respond.”

But many other pastors are uncomfortable discussing HIV or do not know how to address the issue in sermons. They wrestle with the idea of talking about sex, homosexuality and drug abuse. And so they avoid the issue.

But the ministers supporting the new guidebook say the disease touches all corners of their community. And the Gospel of Christ provides clear direction for ministering to those affected, they say. The guidebook includes sermons on such themes as compassion, undying love, courage and spiritual responsibility.

“Jesus embodied an active love,” writes the Rev. Yvette Flunders in the guidebook, “teaching us by example what it means to celebrate diversity.” A love, she writes, “that makes no apology for embracing anyone and everyone.”

In suggested sermon notes titled “The Power of the Pulpit, Silence is Death,” the Rev. Alfreda Lanoix of Unity Fellowship Church in Los Angeles, encourages parents to apply Proverbs 22:6 to all aspects of a child’s upbringing, including sexuality: “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”

“Sex education is all about values,” Lanoix writes. “What better place to teach values than in the church. We don’t want our children to ‘learn in the streets.’ ”

A common theme in the guidebook’s sermons and advice is a call for frank discussion. That is especially true for young people. “When I preach about sex, for many of our kids it is the most significant encounter and discussion that many have ever had,” Ulmer said.

The guidebook contains submissions from ministers throughout the state. A key organizer is Look Up & Live!, founded by Minister Damon L. Eskridge of West Angeles. The group is a multidenominational ministry that supports church- or ministry-based HIV/AIDS programs.

Eskridge died in February from complications of HIV. But the West Angeles group has continued its work, offering counseling, housing referral, food and bus tokens, said the program’s administrative assistant, Nikita Shazier.

In the past, congregations from as far away as Chicago have sought advice from the church about how to start a ministry for people with HIV or AIDs. The guidebook makes it easier to supply that information and makes clear that “you have what it takes in your ministry,” said Shazier. She coordinates a program that provides mentors to other churches.

“If they have deacons, they can do the work,” she said. “If they have church mothers who cook food on Sundays, they can do the work.”

About 500 copies of the guidebooks have been printed, and more are expected in a second printing, Baird said. They are free and available through BaumanCurry & Co., a local public relations firm.