Churches urged to mark World AIDS Day

An Asian Worship Service for World AIDS Day has beencommended for use in churches across Britain.

The background to the liturgy endorsed by the Christian Conferenceof Asia highlights the fact that someone dies of an AIDS-relatedillness every 15 seconds, often because of a lack ofmedicine.

Rev Stephen Penrose said: "As the Director of the LondonEcumenical AIDS Trust and also as a Methodist Minister, I wouldcommend this liturgy to be used around World Aids Day by ourchurches. I particularly like the sermon notes; they not only givethe facts, setting them in a theological context, but hopefullywill stir people into action."

The information from the Ministry of Health Indonesia 2006 pointsout that all people are at risk from HIV and AIDS and everyone canmake a contribution to reducing that risk.

Statistics also illustrate the problem of the HIV epidemic inIndonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, Pakistan, Chinaand India.

A copy of the sermon is attached along with this press release andis available online athttp://www.methodist.org.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=opentogod.content&cmid=1523.