HIV resources for church & community
When working with churches and faith communities, the first question we are often asked is ‘why is HIV an issue for Christians?’
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Who can use this resource?
This resource is for anyone in the Christian community who is interested in HIV, who has felt a vocation or a calling to help those living with HIV, or simply who is looking to make their church more welcoming to people living with HIV.
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How to use this resource?
The resources on this page are varied. As a result, there are many ways to successfully use these resources, from adding a simple prayer to a service around World AIDS Day to holding workshops. For help with this, please get in touch.
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Why use this resource?
Firstly, there are people living with HIV in our churches, and it is our responsibility to include and support them in church life. Secondly, we believe that Christ is to be found where there is suffering - and that HIV exists in the body of Christ. There is much that we can learn from people living with HIV.
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Do you have prayer material?
Over the years we have collected a lot of prayer material relating to HIV. We continually add to this collection, so please do keep coming back to discover prayers, poems and liturgy by people living with HIV and our supporters.
People living with HIV exist in our churches - we have an obligation to include & support them – they are members of our church family.
This is not only about reaching out to people living with HIV. It is also about recognising that HIV exists in the body of Christ – the church. There are insights, gifts and learning that people living with HIV can share with us if we invite them to do so.
Our starting place is to listen to the experiences of people living with HIV who may want and need our help and understanding – especially when they come to us for this or are already members of our community. By using this resource you have already begun to listen and reflect prayerfully upon what you and your church community can do. We hope that you will find that these resources help you to grow in faith yourself, and enable you to extend God’s love and compassion to those sisters and brothers who are living with HIV.
