spirit and healing in africa - University of the Free State

The church now acknowledges that it participated in the rejection of people living with
HIV/AIDS, and calls for a new reflection on its mission within the context of HIV/AIDS (see
WCC Ecumenical Response, 2001). Many churches have implemented this new mission, and
have developed home-based care projects (whereby a network of family, friends, church and
medical personnel is created in order to take care of the HIV-patient in their home environment),
programs focusing on the support of orphans, pastoral counseling sessions and prevention
programs. This massive response of faith communities basically means that they view
HIV/AIDS as something that is part of the body of Christ, and now the body is forced to
respond. The first priority is to be present and to support those who are HIV-positive. The
second priority is to be a supporting community that is able to stimulate Christian hope in the
lives of HIV-infected people, because when relations, hope and dignity are restored, then quality
of life increases (see Cochrane 2006:63; Adogame 2007:481).
In addition to the reflections of faith communities and their relation to people living with
HIV/AIDS, there are the publications from believers who are infected with the virus describing
how they themselves reflect on their relation with God. Even though they might feel rejected by
the church, many people living with HIV/AIDS do not abandon their faith but instead start to
redefine their relationship with God in the light of HIV/AIDS. The base line in these kinds of
personal constructions on HIV/AIDS is that God is not the one who punishes human beings with
illness, but that He is on their side (West 2003:341), that Christ is one of the people living with
HIV/AIDS (Dube 2003:538) and that God “will make a way where there is no way” (Adogame
2007:481). Aids is often seen as an attack by the devil, and this interpretation evokes often
combative responses: the believer is determined to focus on life and on the opportunities that life
can offer to a child of God. Trust in God, often combined with the support of a faith community,
helps the believer to re-design his or her life in such a way that it receives a new meaning. The
emphasis on a life as God meant it to be, on a fullness of life for those who believe, is a counterstatement
in the midst of illness, suffering and decay that so often defines the life of people
living with HIV/AIDS. This counter-perspective shows that it is not despite the illness, but rather
in the illness that quality of life is born.
In addition to the descriptions of how faith communities find their way in supporting HIVinfected
people, and how individuals redefine their life in the light of the gospel, there is an
increasing number of (critical) publications about the role of faith communities regarding
information distribution and prevention measures of HIV/AIDS. More often than ever before
churches and other faith-based organizations pay attention to the prevention of HIV-infection
among believers. The standard method of faith-based prevention projects is the emphasis on
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