Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization to Host HIV/AIDS Consultations November 11-12 in US city of Louisville

The Global Missions Health Conference is the largest event of its kind in the world. This year the GMHC celebrates its 10th anniversary, Nov. 11-12, at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky/USA.

For the first time the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization (LCWE) will host the North American Consultation on the Role of the Church in the HIV/AIDS Pandemic, November 10.

The committee hopes to draw prominent North American church pastors and Christian leaders to speak out on the AIDS Pandemic and to urge the churches in the U.S. and Canada to get involved. As the AIDS crisis is increasingly seen as the greatest humanitarian emergency in the history of the world, leaders are looking not only for medical answers but for a way to reach those affected with the ultimate life-saving help of the gospel of Christ.

The Consultation has already caught the attention of USAID, which is sponsoring 16 international participants to attend the November 10 event.

“This is a great opportunity for us all to get to know people at USAID,” said Ted Yamamori, international director for Lausanne.

Edward C. Green will address the consultation as the senior research scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health. His plenary session is entitled: “Uganda’s ABC Model: An African Response to AIDS.”

Green’s findings in Uganda show the efficacy of ABC in decreasing the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate from 18 percent in 1992 to a below 7 percent today.

“It’s hard to argue with success,” Green says.

Green joins Richard Stearns, president of World Vision, and Ben Homan, president and CEO of Food for the Hungry, who will both speak on the role of the Church in the HIV/AIDS crisis. Geoff Tunnicliffe, interim secretary general of the World Evangelical Alliance, will speak on the power of partnership in responding to the pandemic.

Ten additional workshops will also be offered at the consultation. Some 98 workshops are offered during the GMHC, where plenary speakers include: David Stevens, executive director of the Christian Medical and Dental Associations; and Aileen Coleman, executive director of the Annoor Hospital in Jordan. Coleman is the subject of a new book, “The Desert Rat,” which tells the story of her ministry to Arabian Bedouins.

The GMHC draws hundreds of health professionals, students, aid agency administrators, church leaders, and missions groups each year. For information or registration for the consultation or GMHC, click www.medicalmissions.com.