Purpose Driven Ministries Calls on Evangelicals to Combat HIV/AIDS

Kay Warren of Purpose Driven Ministries recently highlighted the insufficient involvement of the Evangelical Church in the fight against the HIV/AIDS disease and announced the upcoming conference dealing with the topic.

The small Church effort to reach the communities influenced by HIV/AIDS triggered the idea of the conference on the issue: "By and large, evangelicals have been absent from the table, so we're doing our first conference on HIV/AIDS, and the church's response. It's called 'Disturbing Voices'," Warren informed. The conference will commence on 29th November and close on the 1st December, which is also World AIDS Day.

The focus of the conference is to inform church leaders about the spread of the pandemic around the world, especially Africa, where the situation is dismal with statistics revealing 14 million orphaned children.

"Imagine 40 million children growing up without mommies and daddies. That's anarchy waiting to happen. If we don't say something about that and do something about that, shame on us," Rick Warren said.

The event aims to equip the leaders with practical information on how to respond to the problem from world-renown experts.

Conference will gather pastors, medical experts and persons living with HIV. Rick Warren will report briefly on how the P.E.A.C.E. Plan will respond to the pandemic.

Rick Warren is worldwide known for his Purpose Driven Life book. He and his wife are taking part in the global P.E.A.C.E. Plan that aims to reach churches and leaders worldwide to serve in the midst of the world's suffering, and reveal the saving love of God.

Kay Warren described the position of the Church and called for a change: "A church is going to have to realize it's going to have to be bold, it's going to have to be brave, it has to have the courage to do what Jesus did, which was to touch the untouchable, [and] love those that society says are not worthy and deserving of our love."