3 Introduction
4.5 Concluding Remarks
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4.4.3 Caring Ministries
Although other churches have not responded to the need for caring, there are other groups that have. Two people have begun a Men Women Children (MWC) Counselling Centre at Mysore Road in Raisethorpe. Sumaya Khan and Eric Chetty, social workers, offer free counseling to victims of sexual abuse, women and child abuse, poverty and those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. This is a non-religious ministry. The writer was told that people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWA), including Christian Indians, do come for help but that they fear breaking their silence. All attempts to interview these persons failed because they claimed that they were not yet ready to disclose their status.
Regrettably, no religious organisation has set up any form of ministry to fight against the virus or to alleviate the suffering of people in its own constituency. In speaking to Mrs Zohra Sooliman, a Muslim who coordinates the Gift of the Givers organisation, about this she acknowledged and said that she knew that AIDS affected everyone. She expressed her disappointment that the religious sectorofN/R have done very little to address the HIV/AIDS issue.
deliver them from judgmentalism and to teach them to love and care for others.
The church cannot allow its people to be misinformed. These misinformed persons spread fallacies.The pulpit in these churches should be used to proclaim the Good News in its context to the people on HIV/AIDS day. The pulpit is a most significant platform from which to address the people on issues that affect them. The Bible has numerous answers to our struggles of today and how we should respond to them.InN/R,as elsewhere, there is a need for churches to talk about the facts and to inform people about HIV/AIDS.
Unless the members ofN/R review their stand on the HIV/AIDS issue, many lives will be lost. Unless the church inN/Rreviews its call to ministry, the dying and the bereaved will never know of the love of Jesus Christ. Every individual needs to do something about counselling and caring,and to see Christ in the faces of those infected and affected by the HIVIAIDS virus:
Jesus said" ... for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me." Then the righteous will answer him, "Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you,or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you? And the king will answer them, "Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me" (Matthew 25: 35-40).
In discussing the above verses with the clergy, it has unanimously been agreed that Christ spoke specifically to the church to address the diverse needs of its people. AIDS can be singled out to test the obedience of the church to the Lord's call.The relevance is to exemplify the call to care.
The call the Lord made to Church leaders and to believers in general was to engage in the battle against the enemy. HIV/AIDS is a threat to the Christian Indians of N/R. This makes HIV/AIDS our enemy. The church leaders in N/R have a platform to proclaim the good news of Jesus, to bring people to his saving knowledge and to instruct on current issues. Besides this, the leaders must also disciple and train Christians to become care-givers. Christians need to respond to the call of God to engage in this battle against the enemy and to assist our fellow human beings.
The passage quoted above (Matthew 25:35-40) could relate to this dissertation in finding a solution to the myth that Christian Indians of N/R are not affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. It seems that our Lord prophetically knew that the church would neglect people when AIDS struck its heavy blow.When he was on earth, the Lord saw the neglect of the people and the wrong focus of the leaders.
Ina sense, the Lord corrected the focus of the church, as we know it. Wars cause casualties. The battle that Christians in N/R should engage in should not neglect or reject those who have themselves become victims of the pandemic that waged war against them.
We have seen that a united front is needed to fight this battle. Similarly, no single church can succeed alone, neither could any church stray away from biblical rules, as the church sees them, in fighting this battle. The church in N/R needs to combine its forces through gifted and called-out persons who are willing to
engage in this battle. In proclaiming the truth, the church should serve through caring. The theology of truth and the role of the clergy,Christians and the church should bring about counselling and care for people infected and affected by the HIV/AIDS virus.