Money and Stewardship

Giving & Poverty: Urbana 2000 Offering Recipient - Mobilizing For Life

Agency: World Relief

Location: In Nkhotakota and Lilongwe District Communities in Malawi, Southern Africa

Project: Mobilizing For Life in Malawi

Project Goals: World Relief's purpose is to enable churches to exercise greater initiative in HIV/AIDS prevention and control and to care for and support families and individuals affected by AIDS.

AIDS is the viral equivalent to a slow-burn neutron bomb. Sub-Saharan Africa is ground zero. The Government of Malawi estimates that over 200,000 Malawians have already died of AIDS. AIDS is now the leading cause of death in the most productive age group (20-48) and one out of every 13 Malawians could be carrying the virus that causes AIDS in their blood. The estimated total number of people with HIV is about 1 million. Orphans are making their way to grandmothers and extended relatives, where they are pressed to work when they are still children. Widows struggle to survive.

Amidst such hopelessness, ministry can seem daunting, if not impossible. But World Relief believes that Christ calls his church to take the good news to the whole world, and especially to the sick, the distraught and the dying.

World Relief, supported in part by funds from the Urbana 2000 offering, is laboring to enable churches to prevent and control the spread of AIDS in Malawi, and care for and support people affected by AIDS. People without Christ need a witness which begins with felt need, that results in changed lives, and which they can embrace as their own and joyfully share. World Relief is committed to bringing the whole gospel to the whole person for the transformation of whole communities in the most difficult of circumstances. Anglican, Pentecostal, Baptist, Presbyterian, Good News, and Glory Churches are organizing AIDS committees to visit the sick, care for the widows and orphans, generate income for suffering families, educate their youth and do extensive counseling for those impacted by AIDS.

Founded in 1944 to aid post-World War II victims, World Relief is committed to church-centered development in places where people lack clean water, food and shelter due to natural and/or man-made disasters and poverty. The mission of World Relief, as commissioned by the National Association of Evangelicals, is to work with the church in alleviating human suffering worldwide in the name of Christ. World Relief's primary operating strategy is to support development programs in the wider community where churches are located. Although local ministries deliver the services, World Relief and its counterparts provide assistance to all in need without reference to religious affiliation or background.

Brief history of World Relief's involvement:
In 1998, World Relief's health office initiated an international program to mobilize churches in the fight against AIDS. Debbie Dortzbach, well know for her pioneering work with churches in Africa, is the program director.

In Mobilizing for Life, World Relief workers mobilize and equip churches to implement biblically based HIV/AIDS prevention and care programs in their communities. They believe that churches should model Christ's compassion in ministering to people with HIV/AIDS, their care-givers, families and the communities affected by AIDS. Simultaneously and effectively they present God's plan for sexual behavior. This approach leads to the prevention of HIV/AIDS infection by promoting the traditional and positive values of abstinence and faithfulness.

As an essential complement to Mobilizing for Life, World Relief also integrates HIV/AIDS education into its micro-enterprise, maternal and child health and child evangelism programs in areas where HIV/AIDS is a high risk.

World Relief's Strategy of Biblical Holism:
First, Mobilizing for Life equips churches to meet the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of people living with HIV/AIDS and to promote life and hope in the face of suffering and death. They enable churches to counsel and care for the sick and dying and their families and communities. They also recognize that people may live productively and responsibly for many years while HIV positive. Through good health practices they may delay the onset of AIDS, follow responsible sexual practices to stem the flow of the disease, and effectively minister to others.

Second, Mobilizing for Life effects each level of the church and society. In many countries, World Relief begins by mobilizing church leaders and pastors on a national level to effectively address HIV/AIDS within their churches. National mobilization is transformed to community action as pastors and laypersons are trained to reach out and care for families and communities affected by AIDS.

Third, AIDS is not only the churches' business. Churches must take their seat at the table of all the agencies and individuals addressing HIV/AIDS, helping to shape policy and practice, earning the right to disagree when it is necessary, not through strident antagonism, but through modeling effective and humble service.

Mobilizing for Life addresses each aspect of HIV/AIDS. Through effective, biblically based programs in sexuality for youth and adults, World Relief prevents HIV infection. They enable churches to care compassionately for people and families living with HIV and dying of AIDS. Finally, they equip churches to rehabilitate children and family members left behind.

With needs like those presented by the AIDS epidemic in Malawi, the question is not will local churches be involved, but how? As onlookers to a disease which cuts down its youngest, most productive citizenry and leaves millions of children as orphans? Or as the body of Christ offering hope of eternal life to the dying, compassionate care to the sick, and training to church leaders so they promote AIDS prevention and the biblical values of fidelity in marriage and abstinence for singles?

As a result of students' generosity at Urbana 2000, World Relief has the opportunity to mobilize churches - where the disease is raging - and provide education and resources in AIDS prevention, counseling and home care.

Hear the voices of Malawian women who talk about the challenge they face in Kauma, a village just outside of the provincial center of Nkhotakota. A group of about 40 women gathered on straw mats on February 15, 2001, for a Health Education and Care session in the Kauma Church, on the outskirts of Nkhotakota:

A woman named Lonely spoke first "On 11 November 1994 my husband passed away. I have eight children. Since the time my husband died, I've had lots of problems. There are school fees and house needs. Sometimes we are sick. But now, some of my problems have been solved. Since I've started coming here to this church and this group. They bought land and gave it to me and I'm growing maze and vegetables. Fertilizer makes the garden grow more."

Margarete - "Some of us are keeping eight orphans. When I try to advise them, they say our mother did it differently. When there is not enough food to eat, they cry all happened: The first daughter went mad and drowned. The second died from AIDS. The third had a breast problem and died and the fourth was found dead. When orphans play and see other friends they feel inferior and separate themselves. They are dirty but this is because they have no soap. We bring them home but they lock themselves in the closet. There is a change in the house - so much sadness. Pray for the boys. The boys are sad and they are difficult."

Mary Justine - "In 1992 my father passed away. I stopped going to school and now I care for two kids. I am responsible. I received seed and fertilizer and now am growing a garden and taking care of the kids."

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