Answering the Call in the Global Fight Against AIDS

In the biblical parable of the good Samaritan, the priest and Levite looked the other way when they saw a man robbed, beaten and left for dead on the road to Jericho.

That has too often been the response of too many churches to the worldwide AIDS epidemic, according to Richard Stearns, president of World Vision U.S., a Christian humanitarian relief organization operating in 100 countries.

“We’re challenging the churches to be in the front lines of compassion and to get involved because this is very much a church issue,” Stearns told evangelical pastors at a recent prayer breakfast in Los Angeles to discuss the AIDS crisis.

Compared to private philanthropists and some other Christian denominations, evangelical churches and their born-again members have been slow to help in the fight against AIDS and to support those with the disease, Stearns noted. The reason, he said, is the stigma and judgment attached to the AIDS-related issues of sexual morality and activity.

He urged the pastors to lead their congregations past such concerns and work with World Vision to care for AIDS patients and the 14 million orphans whose parents succumbed to the disease. The aid is directed mainly to Africa.

World Vision officials cited Emmanuel Reformed Church in Paramount as an evangelical congregation that has heeded the call.

“Initially, churches weren’t responding, and we were one of those,” said the Rev. Bob Johnson, pastor of Emmanuel Reformed. He said his church hadn’t been aware of the extent of the global AIDS crisis.

But no longer.

In partnership with World Vision U.S., Emmanuel Reformed has adopted the village of Sithobella in the African nation of Swaziland. An estimated 40% of its residents are infected with HIV or have full-blown AIDS, according to Johnson.

He and Ron Boekestein, a lay leader, visited the village twice in the past year. Later they gave presentations on the AIDS crisis to the congregation. After hearing those firsthand observations, church members said they not only felt broken-hearted, but were filled with hope that they could make a difference for Sithobella’s next generation.

Thus far, 150 Emmanuel Reformed members, including youngsters, have sponsored 120 Sithobella children at $30 per child, a total of $3,600 a month. The money would go toward the children’s nutritional, health and educational needs.

“It’s just the beginning,” said Johnson, noting that there is enthusiasm at Emmanuel Reformed, which began as a Dutch church and held services in Dutch until 1940. Today it has a multiracial congregation: roughly 60% white, 30% Latino and 10% black and other ethnicities.

The church has scheduled a July fundraiser to build a well in Sithobella. It’s also planning to send goats to Swaziland for Christmas.

Evie Chapman, a family and marriage counselor in Orange who attends Emmanuel Reformed, says she is excited about what the church is doing in Africa as part of World Vision’s “Hope Initiative,” and that she can’t wait to visit Sithobella with her husband to meet her sponsored child, a 4-year-old boy named Siboniso Gumbi.

A former agnostic who became an evangelical Christian, Stearns in 1998 left his job as chief executive of Lenox, a maker of fine china and crystal, to take the helm of World Vision U.S. The agency, founded to help Korean War orphans, is not affiliated with any church or denomination, and its leaders say their workers do not proselytize.

Stearns sees AIDS, which kills 8,000 people a day, as the major cause of our time and likens it to the civil rights movement. “In 100 years, the only lens that historians will use for the 21st century will be AIDS,” he said. “Our grandchildren will ask, ‘Where were you when 100 million died?’ ”

Mike and Rene Miller, members of Emmanuel Reformed and the parents of three sons, recently sponsored three children -- one for each of theirs. The Miller brothers are thrilled about their two “sisters” and “brother” in faraway Africa. The Millers’ sponsorship has meant cutting down on eating out, Rene Miller said.

“I’ve always wanted a sister,” said Cody Miller, 15. “I want to meet them and communicate with them.”

The Millers have a picture of Tengetile, 3, on their refrigerator, where they usually keep their sons’ snapshots. They will soon add Wenzile, 4, and the boy, Sinikezo, 4, to their gallery.

In the evangelical community, Word Vision is not alone in reaching out to Africa’s AIDS orphans.

The Save Africa’s Children project in Los Angeles, affiliated with the Boston-based Pan-African Children’s Fund, has spent nearly $1 million to support 25,000 children in 18 African countries, including Burundi, Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya, according to Executive Director Darrell G. Smith. It is the brainchild of Bishop Charles E. Blake, pastor of West Angeles Church of God in Christ, a large, mainly African American congregation in the Crenshaw district.

Smith said some churchgoers had been reluctant to get involved with AIDS because they wanted to stress the biblical teaching of celibacy outside marriage instead of promoting more secular anti-AIDS measures such as condom use. Still, his group has worked to get across how important it is “to provide help to the helpless.” Smith, who spoke at the pastors’ meeting on acquired immune deficiency syndrome, said black Americans who have prospered in the United States had a special obligation to reach out to Africa.

Johnson is optimistic that the entire evangelical community will rise to the occasion: “If we are truly going to have the heart of Christ, we’re going to help all the people who have AIDS.”