The challenge

One of the highest rates of new H.I.V./AIDS infections is in the Southeast, a part of the country rich in religious heritage. Southern faith-based organizations have great cultural influence, and can be especially important in reducing barriers and shaping public response to H.I.V./AIDS. However, there is often a code of silence within this traditional community regarding homosexuality and many churches have not acknowledged that some of their members are struggling with this infection. “The stigma and fear associated with H.I.V./AIDS (sexual orientation, death and dying, promiscuity, intravenous drug use, moral judgments) feeds deeper social problems that hinder prevention education and the support and treatment of H.I.V. positive people. Furthermore, the stigma undermines the potential for healing, particularly within the faith community,” the Regional AIDS Interfaith Network (RAIN) leadership group wrote in a recent essay.


Seeds of commitment

This leadership team of four ministers is motivated by a strong, passionate vision of the worth and dignity of every person and a sense of the overwhelming need for this vision to be made real, particularly among people living with H.I.V./AIDS. “As ministers, we are grounded by our various faith traditions that call us to create a more just, loving and hopeful world. We are also influenced by the transforming power of a caring community,” Reverends. Warren, Brooks, Speller-Henderson and Kidd write. The RAIN leadership team believes that though faith communities in the United States are often divided along racial and economic lines, they can come together to address the common problem of H.I.V./AIDS.


Achievements

As an interdenominational and interfaith group, RAIN has engaged leaders of many faiths. Through its CareTeam program, RAIN has trained more than 2,200 volunteers from 20 faith traditions to provide practical, emotional and spiritual support to people who live with H.I.V./AIDS and to their families. Since its founding in 1992, RAIN’s efforts in the religious community translate into 80,000 volunteer hours and 775 H.I.V. prevention-education programs provided to 27,000 people. In addition to adult leaders, RAIN recruits youth leaders for peer education programs. For example, one group of nine teenagers gave H.I.V./AIDS presentations for high school clubs, athletic teams, apartment complexes and faith communities. They also translated flyers into Spanish and gave presentations in a Hispanic community. In order to have first-hand knowledge regarding H.I.V. testing procedures, each peer educator volunteered to be tested for H.I.V. at the local health department and returned for the results.

The most significant achievement of the RAIN leadership team has been to engage the religious community in a sustained and deepening conversation about H.I.V./AIDS by challenging the community to grapple with stereotypes, and the social and theological problems that accompany such a diagnosis. Recently, after five years of hard ground work, 300 African-American pastors and church members gathered for the first time to witness a play that broke the silence about African-American men on the “down low” (men having sex with men while married or in relationships with women). Following the presentation, church leaders were challenged to identify ways in which their theology and biblical interpretations have caused shame and rejection. One rural pastor was moved to write an editorial to The Charlotte Observer advocating for an infectious disease doctor in his county so that patients would not have to travel long distances to receive services. Other rural pastors have joined local AIDS task forces, and one congregation is now developing plans for an onsite clinic and housing service. Despite social prejudice, RAIN has struck a deep, positive chord in the conservative communities of the South, and the organization has grown rapidly.


Their leadership style

RAIN’s leadership model is interdependent and premised on the notion of shared learning and shared leadership over a broad geographic area, evidenced throughout RAIN’s decentralized network of 90 CareTeams, representing 80 congregations. The leadership team uses a technique called a “power equity group.” “This non hierarchical, participatory model allows us to bring our unique strengths, skills and training to the table with no one person defining the whole group,” according to the RAIN leadership team. “Our leadership may be described as an invitation to relationship.” CareTeams utilize liturgy, preaching and religious education to encourage compassion. The effect is twofold: support for the person with H.I.V./AIDS, and the introduction of members of religious congregations to the AIDS community. This connection reduces resistance in the wider community and encourages churches to incorporate H.I.V. prevention programs in their education services and ministries. By adopting this approach, Warren, Brooks, Speller-Henderson and Kidd work to break the silence about H.I.V./AIDS
The future

Success brings new stresses to RAIN. To help staff deal with growing diversity of people and problems in the communities, RAIN has initiated several new team-building sessions, intensified continuing education programs and brought together additional “power equity groups,” to help reduce stress and improve services. Warren, Brooks, Speller-Henderson and Kidd are also expanding their reach and influence, speaking at national AIDS conferences and religious group meetings and helping other groups interested in replicating the RAIN model.


More about the awardees

“The CareTeam model is an effective approach for engaging the faith community in H.I.V. prevention. Parish/synagogue teams are formed to provide practical, emotional and spiritual support to a person living with H.I.V./AIDS. They provide food, transportation to medical appointments, and other direct services.”
— Michael P. Kennedy, Charlotte Area Health Education Center.

“Churches should play a major role in dealing with this disease, comforting those who suffer and educating many who may be at risk. Yet many religious groups have stood on the sidelines as AIDS ravaged members of their congregations. Instead of providing support, too many fixated on the reasons for infection, particularly sexual behavior, and ostracized those who became infected. Charlotte’s Regional AIDS Interfaith Network (RAIN) has worked diligently with clergy and church members to change that outlook, encouraging more active involvement in tackling the disease. As a result, several churches now have care teams providing emotional support and other help to persons with AIDS and their families.”
— The Charlotte Observer, May 24, 2002