A Series of Questions V

A friend of mine has undertaken writing an article for Food for the Hungry in an effort to mobilize folks in the fight against the affects of AIDS. He asked me to reflect on several questions he posed to me as a catalyst for the article (this one is actually a question I was asked by his father-in-law). Here's the result. This is question five of five.



V. As a pastor/church leader, how do I get my congregation involved?

Getting the info out is a necessary first step, but you gotta light the fire in folks’ hearts (as well as do the necessary accounting juggling) if this is going to be an ongoing, sustainable ministry of the church. Get some folks overseas to see this stuff for themselves. The folks who’re touched deeply by what they see/experience will be your strongest champions. And any project without a champion/cheerleader will fizzle.

Foster relationships; “adopt” a program, ministry, group, village, or family. This also allows accountability—critical follow up on where the money’s going, allowing flexibility to allocate funds where they’re best needed and not getting stuck in a policy rut. Getting involved somewhere only to pull out 2 or 5 years later can often do more harm then good. For example, someone who starts on anti-retroviral medication (ARV’s) will be worse off when that regimen is abruptly stopped then someone who never took the drugs but was rather taught how to eat a healthy, affordable (read--SUSTAINABLE) immune boosting, balanced diet. AIDS has no cure—if you get involved in this battle, there is not foreseeable end.