Fifteen Boston black churches joined the nationwide fight against AIDS this week, participating in the 13th annual nationwide Black Church Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS.
Black Church Week, created by Balm in Gilead, Inc., a non-profit organization for the prevention of AIDS, is a ‘national time when everyone can come together and focus on remembering and advocating people with AIDS,’ according to Rev. Martin McLee, pastor of the Union United Methodist Church in Boston.
The event, which began on Monday and will end this Sunday, includes a variety of activities to educate the public on AIDS, McLee said. Worship services, youth conferences and a gospel concert are among the rituals of the week.
The churches hope that community involvement will ‘help bring attention to the fight and reduce the number of persons who are infected with the disease through prevention,’ he said.
‘We hope to increase awareness, to let people know the church is there for those in need of support, and to show people how to think about how to live their lives so AIDS can be prevented,’ McLee said.
Thus far, the community has overall been supportive and ‘grateful to see the church participating as a partner in the fight against and the prevention of AIDS,’ McLee said.
‘Our people are impacted by AIDS, whether it is a cousin or a church member,’ he said. ‘We all have people affected and it’s important we get involved too just like we do for the fight against cancer and other diseases.’
While many AIDS prevention organizations exist throughout the world, the approach Black Church week takes is a new innovation, McLee said.
‘Unlike any other institution, our churches can uplift the words and lessons of Jesus to heal hearts and minds of denial, silence and the stigma that continues to suffocate effective interventions regarding HIV prevention, treatment and care in Black communities worldwide,’ according to Balm in Gilead’s website.
McLee said he sees eye to eye with Balm in Gilead, calling its tactics a ‘faith-based approach that puts our hope in God and in God’s ability to see us through struggles.’ Other methods are based on science and research, he added, and even though the churches support those organizations, he feels they have something unique going for them.
‘We have a strength that comes from the life of faith and that is what will sustain,’ McLee said.
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