Justin Fung, who works on our Lazarus Sunday campaign, gives you 10 great reasons why you should sign up for Lazarus Sunday, a nationwide event to raise HIV/AIDS awareness in faith communities on April 10th, today.
A panel discussion on HIV/AIDS is held at a church after a screening of the Lazarus Effect
1. For churches following the lectionary, the Gospel reading on Lazarus Sunday (April 10) is the story of Jesus bringing Lazarus back to life, in John 11. This is a perfect opportunity to speak about the parallel Lazarus Effect, the millions of people who have been brought back to health and wholeness thanks to anti-retroviral treatments.
2. You get to be one of more than 1,100 churches who’ll be joining together on Lazarus Sunday to speak up about AIDS in Africa and the Lazarus Effect.
3.These churches are from across the Christian tradition: non-denominational, Lutheran, Methodist, Roman Catholic, Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal, Evangelical Covenant Church, United Church of Christ, Disciples of Christ, Presbyterian, Mennonite, Baptist, Southern Baptist, Greek Orthodox and many more.
4. This is also a great chance to be a voice for the voiceless—to share the stories those who are living with AIDS, and to advocate on their behalf.
5. There are all sorts of ways to get involved, from sharing about it in your church bulletin to showing “The Lazarus Effect” clip to discussing “The Lazarus Effect” documentary in your Sunday school class or small group to preaching about AIDS in Africa.
6. We’ve already provided the free resources that you can use: video, slideshow, sermon materials, bulletin insert, and more.
7. Or you can let your creativity run wild! We already have one church getting its kids involved in doing a drama.
8. If you get involved and share your story with us, we might be able to put it up on the blog so you can encourage and inspire others to action! To find out what one of our pastors in Ohio is doing for Lazarus Sunday, and why he’s doing it, check out this Q&A blog post from last week.
9. Sign up to get involved with Lazarus Sunday now, then shoot us an email, and we’ll send you a free copy of “The Lazarus Effect” DVD (while supplies last).
10. And finally, if you show “The Lazarus Effect” documentary, produced by HBO and (RED), it may be the only time you can show an HBO product in its entirety at church…
You may already know that AIDS has killed more than 20 million people in Africa alone. You may already know that two antiretroviral pills (ARVs), costing only 40 cents a day, can bring someone back from the brink of death in as few as 40 days — a transformation that’s been called “the Lazarus effect.” You may already know that in the last decade, we have seen an encouraging increase in the number of Africans on these lifesaving drugs, from 50,000 in 2002 to almost 4 million now. And you may already know that, through its investments in the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the United States has directly supported treatment for more than 3.2 million of these men, women and children.
Now we’re asking you to share this good news.
Join us on Lazarus Sunday on April 10 to speak up and share this inspirational story of transformation for our neighbors on the continent of Africa who are beating back AIDS. We’ve seen great success through programs like PEPFAR and the Global Fund. Now’s the time to give voice to these stories and inspire a further Lazarus Effect.
One of the passages that churches across the country will reflect upon on April 10 is the raising of Lazarus from the dead, which is found in the New Testament Gospel of John. This is the same text that opens the HBO documentary, “The Lazarus Effect,” directed by Lance Bangs and produced by Spike Jonze, put together by our sister organization, (RED). We’re so excited to provide free resources for Lazarus Sunday including a special 90-second clip to be shared as well as free resources to put together an entire Lazarus Sunday service.
To learn more and rally your local congregation, small group or youth group head on over to www.one.org/faith and join us on Facebook and Twitter.
Yesterday, World AIDS Day provided an opportunity for the people of Temple Lutheran Church in suburban Philadelphia to gather, watch and discuss “The Lazarus Effect.” The group shared a simple meal together and observed the beginning of the Christian season of Advent, which proclaims God’s vision for a world defined by justice and equity. It provided a powerful reminder of the connection between faith and ONE’s efforts to end the destructive work of AIDS.
After watching “The Lazarus Effect,” the group had a meaningful discussion about the reality of AIDS, the impact of antiretroviral (ARV) treatments, and the great opportunity to save lives that we must all participate in.
This past weekend, I had the chance to share ONE with folks at the Ridgewood Cares Festival in Ridgewood, New Jersey. The event, created by a multi-faith women’s group, was an opportunity for people to learn how they can get involved in helping others locally and globally. The event was full of opportunities for people to not only learn how they can help, but actually DO SOMETHING to help!
Several of ONE’s partners were also involved, such as Bread For The World, Church World Service, and Habitat For Humanity. People were very interested to learn about ONE’s continuing work in the fight against extreme poverty in the world’s poorest countries.
Tom Cope presents Sen. Rick Santorum with a copy of “The Lazarus Effect.”
Former Senator Rick Santorum was in Clive, Iowa on Monday headlining a fundraiser for a local candidate. While he was there, Tom Cope, former assistant to the Iowa Senate Majority leader and GOP activist was able to talk with former Senator Santorum, who is also on our ONE Vote 2010 Advisory Board.
He gave him a copy of “The Lazarus Effect”, explaining to him that ONE’s sister organization, (RED), partnered with HBO to produce the documentary that shows how the Global Fund is working on the ground in the poorest parts of Africa to help save millions of lives from HIV/AIDS.
Back in 2006, while serving in the U.S. Senate, and with bipartisan support, Senator Santorum was instrumental in funding the Global Fund, making sure that America was helping the least among us in the world. Mr. Cope thanked him for his work for ONE and his continued support on behalf of the world’s poorest people.
ONE is hitting the campaign trail to find out where candidates stand on extreme poverty. Stay tuned for more updates like these from our field team and organizers on the road.
The event was held in the beautiful building of First Baptist Church, directly across the street from the Colorado State Capitol Building. After the Lazarus Effect screening, the panel was scheduled to speak for 30 minutes, aided by questions from audience and me. What took place was a 1-hour-and-15-minute dialogue between the audience and the panelists. Some of the themes included the importance of funding programs like the Global Fund and PEPFAR, and also ensuring that the governments receiving such funds are accountable and efficient. Sidney Muisyo, Vice President for the Africa region at Compassion International, talked about Compassion’s Leadership Development Program, which is addressing governance issues by providing students of strong character with a college education that will enable them to positively influence the direction of their countries.
ONE is hitting the campaign trail to find out where candidates in New Hampshire, Indiana, Colorado, Illinois, Ohio and Florida stand on extreme poverty. Stay tuned for more updates like these from our field team and organizers on the road.
The best part of working for ONE is being part of a large movement of people who aim to fight extreme poverty and global disease and help the world’s poorest people help themselves. So, I feel lucky to be able to meet so many other people who are doing incredible work for those living in extreme poverty.
ONE’s partner BeadforLife works to empower women in Uganda by giving them opportunities to become economically self-sufficient through the sale of bead jewelry and other products. Besides being a great example of how trade can empower Africans, BeadforLife’s staff is also interested in advocacy.
ONE is campaigning to ensure that the Congressional budget does not cut foreign assistance programs like Feed the Future that help people break the cycle of poverty and hunger.
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2011 marks 30 years since the first cases of AIDS were documented. Take a closer look at the specific, achievable goals we must hit by 2015 to make this year the beginning of the end of AIDS.
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