A Series of Questions II

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. Here's the result. This is question two of five.

II. I’m an American Christian. What about the poor people in America? Shouldn’t I help them?
Absolutely. But my guess is that if you have to ask the question, you probably aren’t. (Most people who would ask this are either selfishly avoiding responsibility or are immobilized by the enormity of the problem.) So I’d say, absolutely. Start helping the poor in your own community. You’ll find that giving is actually a blessing. And the more you give, the more you’ll educate yourself to the needs.

My guess is that folks who’d ask this question probably have a certain eschatology that assumes the world is gonna end sometime in the next couple of generations. Well guess what. EVERY generation has thought that. If the Church doesn’t jump into action on behalf of the nearly 20 million orphans and 50 million people living with HIV/AIDS, …WHO WILL? Reality check: as the Church, we are God’s hands and feet on this planet. He does not have a back up plan. You and I are it. And we don’t know when to expect his return. So don’t just think we can continue to ignore the issue like we have for the past 25 years. We’ve got to get involved. Listen to these dire words from the 2006 United Nations Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic:

"A quarter century into the epidemic, the global AIDS response stands at a crossroads. The AIDS response must become substantially stronger, more stretegic and better coordinated if the world is to achieve the 2010 Decleration of Commitment targets. The countries most affected by HIV and AIDS will fail to achieve Millennium Development Goals to reduce poverty, hunger and childhood mortality, and countries whose development is already flagging because of HIV and AIDS will continue to weaken, potentially threatening social stability and national security, if the response does not increase significantly." (you should glance over the 28 page executive summary chock full of statistics at: http://data.unaids.org/pub/GlobalReport/2006/2006_GR-ExecutiveSummary_en.pdf )

The UN is warning here of collapsing social stability and national security! It is not at all a stretch then for me to predict that we will be sending troops to Africa in the next 10-15 years as a direct result of the dramatic decimation AIDS has brought to that continent—the epicenter of the epidemic.

Furthermore, who did Christ call us to serve? The same He came to serve--the marginalized, poor, neglected. Another UN finding is that the vast majority of current projects fail to reach those who are at the greatest risk. If the Church is not getting to those who are at the greatest risk, WHO WILL?