"The Little Red Book" in Ministry

by Kami Rice

When Gavin Leverton appeared at the window to her office in the Infectious Diseases Referral Unit at G.F. Jooste Hospital in the Cape Town's Heideveld community, Cordelia Faleni's face lit up as he showed her he had more copies of Prayers for Encouragement for her.

"It helps a lot with the patients, especially patients that just heard that they are HIV positive," she explained. She said it helps them to hear that God is not judging them and that they can still live a long life.

In addition to working as the administrator of the unit and an HIV/AIDS counselor, Faleni is a priest's wife. She said she also distributes the books at conferences and through her church, where they reach people who haven't yet been public about being sick.

Leverton works part-time for Africa Upper Room Ministries in the Cape Town area. Previously he had only brought English versions of Prayers for Encouragement to Faleni. This time he had Xhosa versions, which excited Faleni because English is not the primary language for many of her patients.

"The feedback was that really after reading this book they felt that they are not alone," she said, noting that hospital staff also appreciate receiving copies of the books. Upon receiving more Prayers for Encouragement, Faleni immediately restocked the waiting room table and offered it to the five or six people waiting for treatment.

An old informal settlement of tin-wood shacks was visible from the hospital's parking lot. Driving away, Leverton noted, "This is just the area that they need [these books]. That's what makes this fulfilling." He explained that this swath of Cape Town has a particularly high prevalence of AIDS.

Two years ago Don Messer, author of Breaking the Conspiracy of Silence: Christian Churches and the Global AIDS Crisis and executive director of the Center for the Church and Global AIDS, visited Maua Methodist Hospital in Kenya and discovered well-used copies of the Upper Room Daily Devotional Guide in the waiting room. Many people come to this hospital to be tested and treated for AIDS and related illnesses. Messer was moved to contact the Upper Room about publishing a special collection of prayers for people suffering from HIV/AIDS and other diseases.

Because Messer found a willing partner in the Upper Room, people like Magdalena "Max" Boyes, who is cared for at Siyabonga, a medical facility in St. Helena Bay on South Africa's western coast, has something to read that helps her "feel motivated" and offers peace to help carry her through the day.

Regarding their work with HIV/AIDS patients, Lyn van Rooyen, project manager with CARIS (Christian AIDS Resource and Information Service) in Johannesburg, said, "For us the focus is firstly on hope - hope for living a fruitful and abundant life with the virus and hope for living eternally with the Lord."

CARIS distributes the books through the local resource centers they guide and support and to networks of people directly involved with HIV ministry. "I think the compact size, relative simplicity and focus on encouragement make this a unique resource.Ê A variety of different resources are available, but I have not seen anything specifically like this.Ê The fact that it is distributed for free is very valuable, especially to small grassroots groups," she said.

Prayers for Encouragement books aren't only distributed to patients through clinics or HIV-ministry organizations. For example, Brian Tiffloen, a layperson with a burden for the bergis or people who live on Cape Town's streets, gives the books to his homeless friends along with soup and friendship. Willie and Jonathan live behind a liquor store with others from their family of fellow street folks. Willie was recently released from a lengthy hospital stay for tuberculosis. Both men said they will read the books Brian brought them. To stay out of trouble, they read during the day and talk together about what they read. Jonathan spoke of God's care for them.

Philip Polo helps distribute Prayers for Encouragement as well as The Upper Room daily devotional guide in Kenya and East Africa. He's run out of the Swahili copies he had. "The demand for [the books] is very high. The need for them is very high," he said. He hopes the supply of books will be able to continue.

Because the stigma around AIDS is still so high in Kenya, Polo primarily distributes the books through organizations that serve people suffering from the disease. He explained that people don't talk about the disease even in church unless a particular forum has been organized. The stigma makes it difficult for people to come forward and declare that they are HIV-positive or even to seek counseling privately with their pastors.

KENWA (Kenya Network of Women with AIDS) is one of the organizations that has distributed books received from Polo. "People who have HIV need all sorts of encouragement and support. Most of the time the emotional support is the most important," explained Asunta Wagura, KENWA's executive director. "They need to be told that they will be okay and there is life after the verdict."

"The prayer book was helpful because people at some point need God to go through the challenges they face. Living with HIV is a challenge every single day. The fact that the book can fit into one's pocket or handbag was helpful. They can read it anywhere," she said.

In addition to serving people suffering from life-threatening diseases, Prayers for Encouragement has reached out to those who care for the ill. CARIS' van Rooyen said, "I found that the books are often used firstly by those providing ministry." She described a recent workshop where one of the participants was responsible for the morning devotions. He said he had been tired and discouraged that morning and didn't know how he was going to get through a full and demanding day. Too overwhelmed to pick up his Bible, he pulled out the booklet van Rooyen had handed out the previous day and read one of the first pieces in which the writer spoke of those days when he was discouraged and unable to get out of bed and how he asks God to hold him in that day. The message gave the devotion leader the strength to get up and lead the devotion with this experience of God carrying him.

"This is one example of many," van Rooyen noted. "Ministry leaders see Prayers for Encouragement firstly as encouraging themselves, then as a gift to encourage their staff and volunteers, then as a tool for caregivers and home-based carers, then as a tangible reminder to those living with HIV or who are ill from AIDS-related conditions."

Those who've seen the powerful response to Prayers for Encouragement hope the supply of books won't end and that it will be become available in more languages and formats. For example, at Siyabonga, the care facility in the Western Cape of South Africa for terminally sick and disabled persons who can't be cared for at home, founder Sister Chrisna du Plessis is hoping Prayers for Encouragement will soon be available in Afrikaans and in a large-print edition her patients can read.

"Siyabonga is a Christian organization," she explained. "Here we're getting people who've never heard about Christ, and they meet their savior here." She eagerly distributes Prayers for Encouragement, but English is not the primary language for many of her patients.

For more information ...

• Order copies of the English, Spanish, or Korean editions in our online bookstore.
• For further information, call 1-877-899-2780, ext. 7236 or email dwaymack@upperroom.org.