Our Christian Way Together

• We are united as equals through baptism – we are children of God – sisters and brothers in Christ
• We are bound together through love – younger and older, female and male, Gay and straight, rich and poor – all are welcome
• We share together the gifts we have – gifts of time and listening, companionship and care – each one according to their ability
• We seek to follow Jesus who is our Lord and Saviour, our friend and companion
• We look to each other to provide a loving Christian community within which we can find strength and healing
• Through prayer and by God’s grace we take our place in our families, the churches and the world, as disciples of Jesus

 

Can a woman forget her nursing child,
or show no compassion for the child of her womb?
Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. (Isaiah 49: 15)

 

There is a joy and strength that comes from living together in a fellowship of the weak, which turns sorrow and loss into a source of gratitude (adapted from Henri Nouwen – ‘Can You Drink the Cup?’)

We began to meet together in 2004, as an attempt to address some of the issues we encounter as people with faith, living with HIV. Many of us have experienced the difficulties of being unable to find sympathetic or understanding people in our faith communities or families with whom we can share our HIV status.

Similarly, many of us find that a faith perspective is often not appreciated within other social groups, or health related networks.

Our developing network is composed of women and men, young and old, married and single, recently diagnosed and those who have lived with HIV for many years.

We are from Africa, Latin America and Europe. We are gay and straight, women and men living with HIV in the UK and Ireland. We include Christians active in church life and catholics who have been ‘away’ from the Church for many years. Some of us feel secure in our faith and identity as Catholics and Christians, while others struggle with faith. Some of us feel very at home in the church, some others have an uneasy relationship with the wider Church.

We welcome people living with HIV who share a Christian faith, and everyone who wishes to explore the meaning of living with HIV from a Christian perspective.

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8: 38-39)