Bishop Gregory G.M. Ingram, Bishop George W.C. Walker, Bishop Marshall Gilmore, Rev. Stephen John Thurston, Rev. Dr. Major Lewis Jemison, Rev. William J. Shaw, Rev. Canon Nelson Pinder and Other Prominent Ministers Unite Millions of Parishioners Against HIV/AIDS.
Some of the nation’s most prominent voices from African American pulpits are uniting against HIV/AIDS for the 17th annual Black Church Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS, March 5-11, 2006. These ministers are the voices for millions of parishioners across the nation who will participate in what is now today, the largest AIDS awareness campaign targeting the African American faith community.
“United We Stand Against HIV/AIDS,” is this year’s theme for The Balm In Gilead’s flagship campaign, The Black Church Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS. It is during this Week that the organization mobilizes thousands of faith institutions to champion AIDS awareness, prevention and education in the African American community. Although the campaign is in its 17th year, this is the first time that The Balm In Gilead has united 6 historical Black church denominations as well as the leaders of 5 other national denominations and caucuses to take “action” against HIV/AIDS within the African American community.
“I believe this historical joining together of our national religious leaders to address HIV/AIDS will come to be known as the moment in our history when the African American Church really began to unleash its own shackles of stigma, ignorance and a multitude of phobias that have afforded our great institution (The Black Church) the ability to ignore the devastating realities of HIV/AIDS in our community,” said Pernessa Seele, Founder and CEO, The Balm In Gilead.
“The Balm In Gilead, along with our national spokespersons, invite all congregations to join the crusade for AIDS education, prevention, service and compassion. Stand Up! ACT Now! The epidemic is worsening in our communities because we have not yet fully organized ourselves to survive!”
Seele, a pioneer in mobilizing Black faith communities to address HIV/AIDS, was a guest of President and Mrs. Bush at the 2006 State of the Union address as a symbol of the President’s commitment to addressing HIV/AIDS in the African American community and working with churches to do so.
This year’s spokespeople for the 17th annual Black Church Week of Prayer represent millions of churchgoers across the nation. They include: Bishop Gregory G.M. Ingram, president, Council of Bishops African Methodist Episcopal Church; Bishop George W. C. Walker, senior bishop, African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church; Bishop Marshall Gilmore, senior bishop, Christian Methodist Episcopal Church; Rev. Stephen John Thurston, president; National Baptist Convention of America; Rev. Dr. Major Lewis Jemison, president, Progressive National Baptist Convention; Rev. Dr. William J. Shaw, president, National Baptist Convention, USA; Rev. Dr. Arlee Griffin, president, American Baptist Churches, USA; The Rev. Canon Nelson Pinder, president, Union of Black Episcopalians, The Episcopal Church; Dr. Dory Lingo, immediate past president, United Black Christians, United Church of Christ; Bishop Melvin G. Talbert, president, Black Methodist for Church Renewal, United Church of Christ and Bishop Carl Bean, Archbishop, Unity Fellowship of Christ Church.
“I concur that education is the most important key in eliminating this dreaded disease,” said Bishop George W.C. Walker, Sr., senior bishop/presiding prelate, Piedmont Episcopal District. “And the church is certainly one major medium through which this can be accomplished over a period of time.”
Since its inception in 1989, The Black Church Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS has engaged Black Churches to become centers for education, compassion and care in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The organization is encouraging Black churches across the United States to host educational workshops, seminars, prayer vigils, or simply distribute information during the Black Church Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS.
Churches are also being encouraged to assist in getting more African Americans to take the HIV test and to give compassionate care and support to persons living with HIV. Today, many churches in both rural and urban African American communities have begun an appropriate response to the AIDS epidemic.
The Balm In Gilead’s Faith-Based HIV/AIDS Capacity Building Model has resulted in the development of many congregational-based HIV/AIDS programs. These congregational programmatic responses range from consistent distribution of brochures during Sunday Morning worship to full-scale direct HIV service programs.
According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, AIDS is the fourth-leading cause of death among women in this country between the ages of 25 and 44, and is the leading cause of death among African American women ages 25 to 34. HIV infection has been designated the fifth largest leading cause of death for people 25-44 years old in the United States, and the leading cause of death for African-American men ages 35-44.
As reported in the HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report (2002), Vol. 14, African Americans accounted for the majority (54%) of new HIV/AIDS diagnoses in 2002. The rate of AIDS cases among African American adults or adolescents (76.4 per 100,000) was nearly 11 times greater than that of Whites (7.0 per 100,000) and nearly three times that of Latinos (26.0 per 100,000) in 2002.
The Balm In Gilead is a 501(c) (3), not-for-profit organization based in New York City whose mission is to improve the health status of people of the African Diaspora by building the capacity of faith communities to address life-threatening diseases, especially HIV/AIDS. As The Balm In Gilead continues its work in the African American faith community, including the recently launched African American Denominational Leadership Health Initiative –a historical partnership between the Balm In Gilead and the women’s missionary societies and council of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and The Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, it also continues its international mission of building the capacity of faith communities in Cote d’ Ivoire, Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya and Zimbabwe.
To find out how your church can get involved in The Black Church Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS, log onto the organization’s website at
www.balmingilead.org.
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