AIDS: A Covenant to Care

   If you have AIDS or are the loved one of a person who has AIDS, you are welcome here.

"As members of the United Methodist Church we covenant together to assure ministries and other services to persons with AIDS . . . . We ask for God's guidance that we might respond in ways that bear witness always to Jesus' own compassionate ministry of healing and reconciliation; and that to this end we might love one another and care for one another with the same unmeasured and unconditional love that Jesus embodied." (From The United Methodist Church's Resolution on "AIDS and The Healing Ministry of the Church," The Book of Resolutions 1992)

This month's Focus Paper invites congregations to develop Covenant to Care statements and to become Covenant to Care congregations: congregations which let it be known in their communities that "if you have AIDS or are the loved one of a person who has AIDS you are welcome here". Focus Paper #6 is written in remembrance of George Clark III, a United Methodist who died on April 18th, 1989, from the complications of AIDS. Cathie Lyons, Focus Paper author, is the Associate General Secretary of the Health and Welfare Ministries Department, General Board of Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church. As the Department's AGS, Lyons continues to staff the Department's AIDS Ministries Network and to coordinate the development of its monthly Network Alert Focus Papers. 

Introductory Tribute to George Clark III

George Clark III died on April 18, 1989 in Brooklyn, New York from the complications of AIDS. He was 29 years old. He is survived by his parents, his sister, other relatives and United Methodists across the country who were moved by the challenge George put to his church at the National Consultation on AIDS Ministries in 1987. 

At the Consultation's closing session, I suggested a number of images which the participants might carry home: images which would bind us together as persons of faith in the midst of the AIDS crisis. One of the images I mentioned had to do with George and the notes he passed to me saying he was living with AIDS and had a story he was willing to tell. Then, one afternoon, George stood and walked to the mike and in a soft voice, and thought-filled manner, he took up the courage to ask: "Would I be welcome in your local church, in your annual conference?" In my closing remarks, I said this about George and the question he raised: 

"George, I name you Legion, because in the life of this church you are many. The question you raise is manifold in its proportions. It is a question which must be addressed to every congregation and every conference in this church. Yours, indeed, is a question which will test the integrity and credibility of all the people who bear Christ's name."

This month's Focus Paper is written in tribute to George and in remembrance of him. The theme of the paper is simple. It asks every local church to respond to the profound question which George raised by becoming a Covenant to Care congregation: by making it clear to everyone in the community that if you have AIDS or are the loved one of a person who has AIDS you are welcome. For persons of faith, a Covenant to Care is the gospel response to George's question. It is the Good News which George challenged his church to live in loving acceptance of all persons whose lives have been touched by AIDS. 

Become a Covenant to Care Congregation

An attitude of care and openness and a willingness to demonstrate unmeasured and unconditional love are distinguishing characteristics of a Covenant to Care congregation: a congregation which covenants to be a place of welcome to all persons whose lives have been touched by HIV/AIDS. 

There continues to be a great deal of silence about AIDS in our churches and communities. The development of a Covenant to Care statement might provide the first opportunity some people have to talk about how AIDS has already affected their lives. The page titled, "AIDS: A Covenant To Care", found at the beginning of this paper provides one example of a statement which your congregation might want to use. 

Once a statement has been developed let your community know about your Covenant to Care. Contact your secular news media and your conference newspaper. Be an example to other congregations and secular organizations. Post your statement in a prominent place where people can see it when they enter your church. 

Let the HIV/AIDS Ministries Network Office know that you have developed a covenant statement. Send a copy to the Network Office along with information about the caring AIDS ministry of your congregation so your story can be shared with others. 

The Face AIDS Wears

The face AIDS wears is both many and one. Those who work directly with persons who have HIV/AIDS know that AIDS affects people who are just like (and are) the members of our congregations. They are women and men, children, youth and adults. People who have AIDS are our sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives. Sometimes they are someone's mother or father. 

Persons with AIDS come from all walks of life. Some are employed; others are unemployed. Some are affected by other life threatening conditions such as substance abuse including the use of street drugs taken intravenously. People who have AIDS represent all racial and ethnic groups, religious backgrounds, and countries of the world. 

Sometimes the face AIDS wears is that of a homeless person or a person in prison. Sometimes it's the face of a pregnant woman who is fearful she has passed the AIDS virus to her unborn child. 

Sometimes it's the face of a baby or child who has no caregiver and little hope of adoption or being placed in foster care. 

Sometimes when we think about persons with AIDS our main concern is to know how they contracted the virus. Sometimes we fixate on the person's race or ethnicity, or on where the person came from, or lives. 

For persons who bear Christ's name and who continue His ministry it is not surprising that the many faces AIDS wears are, really, one and the same face. 

The face that AIDS wears is always the face of a person created and loved by God. It is because of this that a Covenant to Care congregation asks for God's guidance that it might respond in ways which bear witness always to Jesus' own compassionate ministry of healing and reconciliation; and that it might extend to everyone that same unmeasured and unconditional love which Jesus embodied. 

Developing AIDS Ministries

No matter how many members your congregation has or how large or small its budget might be, there are things you can do that will make a difference. You might be doing some of them already. Remember, people with AIDS (PLWAs) have needs which are very similar to the needs of other people who have chronic or life-threatening illnesses. For example, they might: 

• want to participate in a prayer group, a program of spiritual nurture, or be with persons who understand the grieving process.
• want opportunities to tell their stories about what it is like to be living with AIDS. PLWAs and their loved ones are the most invaluable resource persons your church or community can have when it comes to designing appropriate effective AIDS ministries.
• feel abandoned or alone. Telephone calls and face-to-face visits are important. Call before visiting and discuss when to come and what to bring. Going out to dinner, to a movie, to church, a concert or a sports event can be welcome interludes and things which PLWAs look forward to doing with others.
• need help with basic tasks such as house cleaning, laundry, doing dishes, grocery shopping, picking up the mail or posting letters.These are tasks which need not take up a great deal of anyone's time, but which can be overly tiring to a person with HIV/AIDS.
• require assistance keeping track of doctor's appointments and getting to and from the hospital or doctor's office.
• need home delivered meals which could be prepared by church members or in the church kitchen and delivered by volunteers.
• need someone to be a financial advocate to provide help filling out and submitting medical and disability benefit forms, as well as needing assistance with end-of-life planning, including the preparation of a will, a memorial service, funeral and burial arrangements.
• need someone to act as an intermediary to help with family reconciliation and to facilitate saying goodbye to loved ones.
• require the simple bodily care (such as bathing, toilet needs, and hair cutting and washing) that a friend can give.
• find himself or herself in need of legal advocates owing to housing or job discrimination, or denial of health care services.

Congregations can organize volunteers to provide these types of outreach. If there are local AIDS service organizations already operating, congregations can find ways to cooperate with them. 

In communities where there are larger numbers of persons who have AIDS, some congregations: 

• Provide space, even telephone use and secretarial assistance, for local AIDS service organizations.
• Use their kitchens during the week for the preparation of meals to be delivered or for congregate meals at the church.
• Offer space and/or trained counselors for pastoral care and bereavement counseling.
• Develop respite programs for AIDS care providers, and drop off facilities where persons with AIDS can spend all or part of a day while their care provider is at work.
• Organize recreational and cultural events.
• Work with foster care agencies to find prospective foster care placements for a child or youth who has AIDS.
• Open their day care programs to serve the needs of children and families who are affected by AIDS.
• Work with other groups in the community to provide AIDS prevention education programs.
• Raise money and provide funding for community AIDS work. Raise funds for the AIDS Advance Special: Enabling AIDS Ministries (Advance Special Code Number: Program 982215-6).
• Work with ecumenical and interfaith efforts to secure adequate housing, in home care, skilled nursing care, hospice care and other services which people with AIDS need.

Many communities have good AIDS education and direct service resource people available. Find out who the AIDS informed people are in your area and invite them to be a part of your planning. 

If there is an AIDS service organization in your town, it will have people to suggest.

Check, also, with your county medical society, a local Red Cross Chapter or the Visiting Nurse Association. Perhaps there are clergy or lay persons in your community who have AIDS training and experience in AIDS program development. Perhaps there is an interfaith or ecumenical group which is already addressing the AIDS crisis. Reach out to these different organizations. You probably will be able to find people with practical knowledge and experience who are willing to work with you. 

Most important of all, people who have HIV/AIDS, their loved ones, family members and care providers know AIDS first hand. They can talk with your congregation about what it is like to be living with AIDS and to care for someone who has AIDS. Their stories and experiences are invaluable. These are the people who can tell you what their needs are and how your church might respond. Include these people from the outset as you become involved in AIDS ministries. 

Do not be afraid of people who have AIDS, their care providers or loved ones. You cannot get AIDS by talking to, sitting beside, embracing, eating with, touching or praying with a person who has AIDS, or by letting that person use the facilities of your church or home. It is through being in ministry with persons whose lives have been touched by AIDS that churches know anew what it means to be the church and to follow Jesus' example. 

The Importance of Prayer

Prayers for persons touched by AIDS are another important way of saying, "this congregation cares". Prayers at the bedside of a person who has HIV/AIDS, whether at home or in the hospital can be a source of sustenance and comfort. 

In your prayers, remember the loved ones of persons who have AIDS (PLWAs) and those who provide care. Doctors, nurses and other health professionals need to be remembered and lifted up in prayer, as do volunteers who work with PLWAs. 

Denominational, ecumenical and interfaith services of prayer and healing are taking place across the country. The location of the service is often rotated among the cooperating congregations and parishes within the community. Since AIDS affects persons from all religious backgrounds, shared services of prayer and concern offer unlimited opportunities for all the people of God to come together in ministry, prayer and thanksgiving. 

Continue to Study and Learn About AIDS

The United Methodist Women's Program Book The Promise of a New Decade, includes a study session on "AIDS: A Worldwide Crisis with a Human Face." In it, nine vignettes are given which provide a glimpse of the human dimensions of AIDS and the ways in which this disease affects individuals and families in our communities. 

The vignettes are designed to lead the study group members into thinking about how to respond. 

The Program Resource Book can be ordered from: 

Service Center, General Board of Global Ministries, 7820 Reading Road, Caller No. 1800, Cincinnati, OH 45222-1800

Cost: $1.95 each. Postage and handling: add $1.50 for orders which total $10.00 or less. Add 15% for orders which total $10.01 to $25.00. When ordering the Program Resource Book specify Order # 1028. 

Afterword

Becoming a Covenant to Care congregation does not mean a congregation is gaining formal recognition within The United Methodist Church. It does mean a congregation is willing to demonstrate in word and deed what it means to be the people of God: to reach out with unconditional and unmeasured love and offer welcome and acceptance to all persons who have known AIDS in their lives. 

To United Methodists, George Clark III lives on as a reminder that every day the reality of AIDS comes home. Every day another family, friend, community, or church learns that one of its own has AIDS. 

George's parents were in route to New York when he died. George had hoped that Arthur Brandenburg (who had been George's pastor in Pennsylvania) would be with him. George got his wish. Art was there, as was Mike a gracious and kind man who had opened his home to George. 

Rev. Taka Ishii of the Metropolitan Duane United Methodist Church in Manhattan visited George often, prayed with him, offered him reason for hope, served him communion, and was a pastoral care provider to George's parents during their visits to New York. 

George benefited from well coordinated services after he left Mount Sinai Hospital. Hospice care professionals and music therapists worked with him. 

Art Brandenburg recalls that at death George was wearing a World Methodist Youth Fellowship T shirt . . . and the birds outside George's window stopped singing.