wfn.org | Black churches need AIDS ministries, pastor says

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Feb. 15, 1999	Contact: Linda Bloom*(212) 870-3803*New York
10-21-31-71B{087}

By United Methodist News Service

When the Rev. Ronald Weatherford was researching his master's degree thesis
on AIDS and the African-American church, he could find no books on the
subject.

What the United Methodist pastor and High Point, N.C., resident discovered
was that many African-American congregations were trying to ignore the AIDS
epidemic because people contracted the disease through sexual practices or
drug use. 

"In the church, we don't really perceive these people as being part of our
congregation," he explained.

But Weatherford did find churches that have mounted intervention and
prevention efforts. Those  programs, as well as an exploration of spiritual
issues and sexual ethics, are highlighted in his book, Somebody's Knocking
at Your Door: AIDS and the African-American Church. His co-author is his
wife, Carole Weatherford.

Homophobia and denial are contributing to the apathy many African-American
congregations display toward the AIDS crisis. Weatherford, who also works as
a U.S. mail carrier, said he realized that people on his route who were
living with AIDS were not receiving pastoral care.

Two were members of a United Methodist church in High Point, but the pastor
did not make them a priority. "He was really ministering only to the mother
and not to the person having the disease," he explained during a telephone
interview.

Weatherford himself has been  affected by the disease. "I've lost three
first cousins and my best friend from high school (to AIDS)," he said.

AIDS is a very real threat to the African-American community. According to
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the incidence of AIDS in
African-American and Latino heterosexuals is rising faster than in any other
population group, Weatherford noted.

By the end of 1997, 132,211 African-Americans had died of the disease, and
an estimated 500,000 were infected with the HIV virus. At the current rates,
the Harvard AIDS Institute has projected that African-Americans will account
for three in every five AIDS cases in the United States.

Most ministries to the community come about after church members express
concern to the pastor, according to Weatherford. "The church members
themselves have to have some type of interest.

"What I promote is partnering with other local congregations to help develop
a community-wide ministry," he added. The churches also can connect with
secular agencies already working with people who have AIDS to see what help
is available.

He suggests congregations support AIDS ministries through their annual
budget. High Point, for example, has nearly 100 churches. If every church
designated $1,000 for AIDS ministries, "that could go a long way in
providing some of the services that are needed by folks."

Congregations can also host peer group counseling and support networks.
Simply providing a place to meet shows support "and goes a long way in the
healing process," Weatherford said.

Successful ministries highlighted in the book include the Glide-Goodlett
AIDS Project at Glide Memorial United Methodist Church in San Francisco and
the WAM Foundation at Windsor Village United Methodist Church in Houston.

Somebody's Knocking at Your Door is available at bookstores and from Haworth
Press, (800) 429-6784.

  

______________
United Methodist News Service
http://www.umc.org/umns/
newsdesk@umcom.umc.org
(615)742-5472