UFMCC Resource Kit for
World AIDS Day (Dec. 1, 1999)

Listen, Learn, Live!

Listen, Learn, Live!
The 1999 World AIDS Day theme is Listen, Learn, Live! World AIDS Campaign for Children and Young People. The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) is again focusing on the needs of children, teens and young adults because of the staggering effects of HIV on young people around the world. 

HIV and AIDS are far from over. In 1998, six people under the age of 25 became infected with HIV every minute; more than 8500 every day. HIV has disproportionally hit the marginalized in every society it impacts, hitting people of color, women, children, the impoverished and the isolated heavily. Every nation and every community where MCC exists has been hit by HIV/AIDS and AIDS has become the fourth leading cause of death in the world. More than 33 million people around the world are HIV+. UNICEF projects that between the years 2000 and 2004, 50% of the children under 5 in South Africa will die from AIDS. 

UNAIDS says this about the 1999 theme:

Listen to children and young people, hear their views and concerns, and understand what is important in their lives
Learn from one another about respect, participation, support, and ways to prevent HIV infection
Live in a world were the rights of children and young people are protected and where those living with HIV/AIDS are cared for and do not suffer discrimination.

UFMCC Response: A New Ministry Priority
General Conference XIX adopted a new Ministry Priority related to HIV/AIDS, which reads: "Developing a pro-active response to the changing face of HIV/AIDS in the world." The General Council, in their October 1999 meeting, agreed upon the following principles to guide UFMCC decision making around HIV/AIDS programming:

1. We care about the ongoing spread of HIV/AIDS and want to identify and address it in each community where MCC is located
2. Church should be a safe place where health and sex can be addressed.
3. There is a need to change the perceptions of people about the effects of HIV/AIDS, especially where people who are HIV+ have become "invisible."
4. We need to support people to live with HIV in a new attitude of wholeness, increasing visibility through building self-esteem and affirmation.
5. We need to address the spiritual needs of those with HIV.
6. There are opportunities to act as an advocate for others– influencing the public policies that impact on people with HIV/AIDS.

The following goals and objectives for a response to HIV/AIDS were set for the years 2000 and 2001:

A. Address the changing face of HIV/AIDS in the world, including the increasing impact upon diverse racial and ethnic populations.
B. Encourage good health practice and holistic ministry in local churches.
C. Enhance self-esteem and reduce the isolation of those living with HIV/AIDS.
D. Encourage an appropriate, honest, sex-positive spiritually integrated culture within UFMCC.
E. Provide people with resources they can use to develop a healthy personal sexual ethic.

For More Information about HIV/AIDS
Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
20 avenue Appia, 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland
Tel. (+41 22) 791 4651 – Fax (+41 22) 791 4165 
e-mail: unaids@unaids.org  
Website in English, French and Spanish  http://www.unaids.org/ 
UNAIDS has extensive resources with statistics for every part of the world, resources, ideas, posters, videos and much more. Excellent downloadable resources for local use.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
Website in French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Chinese and English
http://www.unesco.org  Scientific information and extensive databases

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
http://www.undp.org/hiv/  Extensive information about HIV in developing countries.

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
http://www.unicef.org/pon99
The Progress of Nations report includes a powerful section called The AIDS Emergency which documents the affect of HIV on the world's children.
http://www.unicef.org/woy  
The Voices of Youth is a website that has information for children to access, including quizzes, real time discussion, bulletin boards and more. Excellent source for kids or teachers.

The HIV Daily Briefing  http://www.aegis.com/main/  

Africa News  http://africanews.org 
A pan-African news agency, this site includes information about HIV and news stories about its impact throughout Africa. 

Idea List for MCC Congregations
1. Hold a worship service on Wednesday, December 1, World AIDS Day. Invite other churches, synagogues or temples to participate with you. 
2. Take a second offering or collect money on World AIDS Day or at a Sunday worship service to be used for UFMCC HIV/AIDS programming. You and your church can play a vital role in increasing MCC response to this global epidemic and helping us to fulfill our new ministry priority.
3. Contact agencies in your community that work with youth and ask how you and your church can assist them in providing HIV education and information to youth. Consider holding a fundraiser for groups in your community who are doing this work.
4. As a church, put together a project to advocate with your government for fair treatment under the law for people with HIV/AIDS
a. If your community is not protected by laws that ban discrimination against HIV+ people, work for the introduction of such laws
b. If your country restricts travel of HIV+ people, contact government officials urging a lifting of those restrictions (United States citizens can find information about contacting the Immigration and Naturalization Service in the Resource Kit on that topic located on the UFMCC Intranet)
c. United States citizens should contact the government about policies which prevent other countries from producing anti-retroviral medication. For more information, read Ethics and AIDS Drugs, Time Magazine, July 12, 1999, vol. 154 no. 2 http://www.pathfinder.com/magazine/articles/0,3266,27692,00.html  Contact the campaign offices of the Presidential candidates and ask them if they will support suspending trade and patent laws to allow developing countries to develop and provide lower cost HIV medications.
5. Gather a group of people in your church to discuss and evaluate your church's response to HIV/AIDS. Is it meeting the needs of people in your community? How else might you respond? Who is being impacted the most by HIV in your community? How can your church be of assistance to those who are affected with HIV? Are there other organizations in your community that you can work with in responding to HIV/AIDS? Is your church a safe climate for people to discuss HIV? What can you do to make it even safer?
7. Contact the local Department of Health or HIV service providers in your area and offer free and anonymous HIV testing at church. MCC Bridgerland, in Odgen, Utah, USA did this recently.
8. Show the National Minority AIDS Council video, "HIV/AIDS and African-Americans," at your church. This video is available free to UFMCC congregations; to receive a copy, contact Rev. Robert Griffin at ROGERTG@aol.com 

Worship and Other Resources
Other worship resources are available from the United Methodist Church in the United States at http://gbgm-umc.org/cam/worship/html and on the UFMCC IntraNet 

Litany
One: Listen
Many: Listen
One: Listen to the voices of those who live with HIV.
Many: Listen to the needs of our sisters and brothers in our country and in other nations.
One: Listen to those who cry for justice in an inequitable world where only the rich have access to life saving treatments.
Many: Listen to those who have learned about life through challenge and through joy.
One: Learn 
Many: Learn
One: Learn to make a difference in the life of someone with HIV. Know that you can change the world.
Many: Learn that you are not to blame.
One: Learn that you deserve good care and health.
Many: Learn that God's love is for you and for all people.
One: Live
Many: Live
One: Live fully in sickness and in health.
Many: Live with compassion for yourself and others.
One: Live what you believe.
Many: Live in the presence of God, now and always.

Readings
The readings are centered around the three themes of Listen, Learn and Live. The questions that follow may help spark ideas for a sermon or can be used in a small group discussion.

Listen
"Let anyone with ears to hear, listen!" And Jesus said to them, "Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given to you." Mark 4:23-24

"Why do you call me Sovereign, Sovereign, and do not do what I tell you? I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them. That one is like a person building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundations on rock; when a flood arose, the river burst against that house but could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not act is like a person who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, immediately it fell and great was the ruin of that house." Luke 6:46-49

• What are the foundations that we must build in response to HIV and AIDS?
• How are we to listen to Jesus? What is Jesus saying about to you about HIV?
• What does our faith teach us about listening to others? How does that relate to what you know about HIV in the world today? 

Learn
And as Jesus sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to Jesus' disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" But when Jesus heard this, he said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have come not to call the righteous, but sinners." Matthew 9: 10-13

• HIV disproportionately impacts those who are on the margins of our society. What does this story of Jesus teach you about how we as Christians are called to interact with people on the margins?
• How does Jesus' command to learn about mercy not sacrifice relate to HIV?
• The news media often separates "innocent" victims of HIV (usually children) from others with HIV. What do you think Jesus would say about this?
• When you think about the global health needs of people with HIV, how do you think Jesus calls each of us to be physicians for the world? What does this require from you?

Live
So again Jesus said to them, "Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me were thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. John 10:7-10

• Jesus states that he came so that we might have life, and have it abundantly. What does this mean for you?
• What does abundant life mean for you in the face of a chronic or life-threatening illness? How would Jesus apply this principle to HIV?
• Is HIV a thief that comes to kill and destroy? Or it is other factors that keep people from living abundantly or having access to the treatments they need to live fully? 

For more information about UFMCC worldwide:
UFMCC Communications Director
8704 Santa Monica Blvd., 2nd Floor  West Hollywood, CA 90069
Tel. (310) 360-8640   Fax: (310) 360-8680  E-mail: UFMCCHQ@aol.com