Life
NAACP develops manual to Preach Prevention in Black Churches
Houston pastor Timothy W. Sloan has felt for years that he needed to talk about HIV and AIDS with his congregation.
But he worried the 3,000 mostly African-American parishioners at St. Luke Missionary Baptist Church in Humble, Texas, could be offended and leave the church or curtail their giving.
“On a scale of 1 to 10 it was a 6,” he said of his concerns.
Then, a year and a half ago, he joined a group of pastors organized by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to write a manual for church leaders like himself on talking to their congregations about a disease that has a disproportionate effect on the black community.
Sloan spoke to his congregation about the issue soon after. They surprised him with a standing ovation.
Now Sloan hopes others can use the manual he helped create to talk to their congregations. The NAACP this month released it and a 61-page activity manual at the group’s convention in Texas.
Shavon Arline-Bradley, the director of health programs for the NAACP, who helped oversee the manual’s creation, said it makes sense for the nation’s largest civil rights organization to be involved in the discussion of HIV and AIDS.
