Church visits during March

Our volunteer teams continue to find church congregations open to testing and sharing their HIV status, to the surprise of some pastors.

Pastors at two of the churches we visited during March were doubtful their congregations would agree to be tested.

However when our Lafia and Yola volunteer teams visited the churches in Amba and Gerei virtually everyone chose to be tested and be open with their status.

International coordinator Tassie Ghata explained: “Both pastors were familiar with the HIV convention that says people should not talk about their status.

“However, they saw that in practice people want to be open because then they get support from other Grace & Light members. At one of the churches two people who had known their status for years were relieved to disclose they were HIV positive.”

In total teams visited nine churches during March and tested 945 people. Ninety-four per cent chose to be open about their status and join life-sharing groups. In four of the churches everyone who tested chose to join Grace & Light and share their status.

Ten people tested HIV positive, 50 made first commitments to follow Christ and another 183 rededicated their lives to Christ. Five teams were active during the month – Jos, Obudu, Yola, Lafia and Langtang.

They visited ECWA Kazumung, Grace Bible Church Begiaka, LCCN Boggare, ERCC Tundun, LCCN no 1 Gerei, COCIN Landere, COCIN Shishiri, EYN Fuleri and EYN Janbutu.