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Published on: 4/28/2006
Last Visited: 4/19/2007
Bernardo died a matter of weeks before John Brown, director of Africa Inland Mission Canada, visited the area.Brown says that Bernardo's experience captures the alienation of people with AIDS.
Stories like Bernardo¹s matter, says Brown, because even if agencies can slow the spread of the virus, "in less than a decade much of the Third World will look like sub-Saharan Africa."
"We cannot ignore AIDS," says Brown."Jesus' hands are described repeatedly in the New Testament as He reached out and touched the dead, lepers, prostitutes--people cast out by their society.Whether someone with the virus lives in Mozambique or in downtown Toronto, regardless of how they caught it, Jesus gave His life for that person."
Although AIM's focus is evangelism and starting new churches, Brown says, the "pandemic has changed the context" of that mission.AIM is affiliated with more than 6,000 schools, 600 missionaries, several hundred medical dispensaries, and the Africa Inland Church, a denomination with 4 million members.