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Our Strategy
The philosophy behind what we’re doing in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa.
A partnership across the ocean
Wheaton Bible is partnering with the existing church in Africa in the fight against HIV/AIDS—primarily in Kenya through our relationship with WBC missionaries Scott and Barb Harbert and their connection to the Africa Inland Church (see “Our History” below).
The church is God’s instrument of transformation and by encouraging the African church—through prayer, education, funding, and resources—we believe progress can be made.
A battle plan using five stones
The global AIDS crisis has been described like Goliath, taunting the church and cursing God. A David is needed to fight this Goliath, and the church is playing that role—armed, like David, with God’s power and five stones, which represent a 5-pronged approach.
STONE 1: Prevention of HIV/AIDS
Encourage local churches to emphasize the value of living a pure life—focusing on abstinence before marriage, faithfulness in marriage, and the importance of knowing your HIV status. Help equip the local church to educate people about AIDS and how to make good decisions in life. Train school teachers and church leaders to teach a character-based curriculum in schools and the church.
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WBC partners with the Nakuru AIDS Initiative, which conducts seminars for hundreds of Africa Inland Church leaders and subsidizes the cost of teacher training seminars for schoolteachers in this region of Kenya. |
STONE 2: Care for AIDS Orphans and Widows
Help congregations care for orphans through finding church guardians and helping provide food and after-school care. Help widows become self-sufficient through job training and micro-finance loan systems.
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WBC has supported and helped build the Hope for Life Center directed by Josephine Kiarii. At the center WBC sponsors vocational training in 12 different skills. The center feeds and tutors 125 children and gives counsel and aid to single mothers and guardians. |
STONE 3: Encourage Care for Those Suffering and Dying of AIDS
Help support churches that are caring for people who are sick and dying of AIDS. Provide training for churches and medical facilities to better serve their community through dealing with grief through home-based care groups.
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WBC supports the church leadership seminars on home-based support groups. One such church has 40 people who meet every Monday evening. In 2008 WBC is sending a missionary, Judy Frey, who will train Litein Hospital personnel in grief counseling skills and develop curriculum for other centers. |
STONE 4: Set up Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) Centers
Encourage the area churches to open VCT Centers in their church buildings and neighborhoods to provide affordable HIV testing and Christian counseling.
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WBC has supported the cost of training over 20 counselors, who have qualified to work in VCT Centers. Of the 6 centers, one in particular tests and counsels about 175 clients each month. Clients receive help in getting their anti-retroviral medication if they are HIV positive. |
STONE 5: Promote Community Development Among the Victims of HIV/AIDS
Provide training in local micro-enterprise efforts including internal loan systems, health and community development training, skills training for those without marketable skills.
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WBC has supported the cost of area-wide training seminars that have generated guardians and widows to pool their resources for the good of their community. The results of this education have helped some communities get help from their local municipalities as they are gaining a progressive reputation before government leadership. |
Our History
The History of the WBC Partnerships with AIDS Ministries
In the early part of 2000, evangelicals were facing the facts about AIDS in Africa head on. Understanding that 70 percent of the 40 million people in the world living with AIDS live in Africa, they learned that an estimated 22.5 million people would be living with HIV in Africa by the end of 2007. AIDS is now the leading cause of death in sub-Saharan Africa,
killing an estimated 1.6 million people in 2007 alone. In the same year another 1.7 million became infected with HIV.
Realizing that when our brothers and sisters suffer, we suffer, WBC felt compelled to actively respond. In early 2004, WBC missionaries Scott and Barb Harbert (with AIM) started a partnership between us and churches in Nakuru, Kenya. They formed a board of Kenyan pastors and missionaries and began overseeing this ministry called the Nakuru AIDS Initiative (NAI).
Since 2004 we have traveled to Kenya to visit with the NAI Board twice. We also sent a Global Outreach Team in 2005 to meet and assist an NAI partner with work projects. WBC continues to invest monthly funds that support many local AIDS initiatives. Also in 2005, we began a partnership with Kerus Global Education, helping to fund the curriculum writing project of Kerus directors Dr. Marcia Ball and Dr. Jennie Cerullo. Kerus takes this curriculum to various countries, training leaders how to in turn train others in AIDS education and prevention. In 2006, Kids Caring 4 Kids, a local charity, has also invested much in the partnership. After four years, we have seen much progress in the fight against AIDS in this region.
We hope to continue this fight to prevent HIV/AIDS through sound teaching and accountability, as well as caring for those who are suffering from the illnesses that come from immune deficiency. We have seen the Christian church grow in their role as care-givers to those families in their communities that suffering with illness and enduring the loss of loved ones.
