Provides many opportunities for exercising. You can also go skiing, snowshoeing or fatbiking along the maintenance tracks. Winter trails in 2018 (pdf, 2.6 MB,.
Kristine Marshall of Bethel United Methodist Church in Anderson, Ind., spent her time at the Breaking Barriers Global AIDS Conference creating three canvases to represent the process of breaking free from the stigma of living with HIV/AIDS and living your fullest life. Photo by Crystal Caviness, United Methodist Communications. Say the words “AIDS” and “HIV” out loud.
Put the words — in all caps — in the church bulletin’s prayer concerns section and don’t shy away from the conversation. These suggestions were among those offered — and repeated — during the recent Global AIDS Conference on how the church can help end stigma for people living with HIV and AIDS. Luke’s United Methodist Church, gathered 140 people representing a spectrum of the population, including people of faith, health care professionals and advocates, community leaders, volunteers and people living with HIV, to discuss strategies for saving lives and increasing awareness. Eighteen workshops, four panels and two keynote addresses tackled the topic of HIV/AIDS as it relates to a cross section of the population, including those dealing with aging, the opioid epidemic, tuberculosis, and the church. Donate to the United Methodist Global AIDS Fund through. “The church can play a pivotal role in all this.
Embracing all God’s children as people of sacred worth is a message needed not only from the church but society.” The need for the church to be part of the global HIV/AIDS dialogue was a recurring theme from the podium throughout the conference, with faith leaders among those making written pledges to either start or keep the conversation going in an effort to break through the barrier that stigma creates. “I know more and will now do more,” Bishop Trimble said after the event. “We learned from those living with HIV that the church can do much more, beginning with education and collaboration.
Stigma can be countered by breaking the silence and advocating for training and increasing access to treatment and education.” The goal was to change the narrative from what is not happening to what can be done better, the bishop noted. To fully be the church “will require us to address stigma,” he said.
“No racial or ethnic group is exempt and no excuses were accepted,” Trimble said. The Global AIDS Committee is planning a one-day conference scheduled for the day before the 2020 General Conference begins in Minneapolis in May 2020.