Q&A: Erika Rios

In 25 years, HIV has infected 65 million people, and killed 25 million of these through AIDS. Currently 17.3 million women live with the virus, 13 million of them in Africa. Indeed, in several sub-Saharan African countries more than 25 percent of the adult population is infected with AIDS. Epidemics are growing in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, including India and China.

Bring to the table Erika Rios, recently hired global AIDS coordinator for the Church of the Nazarene, to strategize and energize informational and service projects worldwide. A medical doctor from Oaxaca, Mexico, Rios has served in Equatorial Guinea, where she assisted in opening up the work of the Church of the Nazarene. She completed studies of tropical diseases and AIDS in Barcelona, Spain. Rios has also served on medical teams in Cuba and Central America, and studied theology at the Nazarene Seminary in Costa Rica. She coauthored the HIV/AIDS statement for the Church of the Nazarene found at www.ncm.org.

FT: Why should the Church of the Nazarene get involved in HIV/AIDS ministries?

ER: First, we are called to be a therapeutic community, where people can find the healing they seek. As a church, we need to advocate not only for the poor and sick but also for the socially marginalized, which includes people living with AIDS. Second, the disease of AIDS is found in the church. We tend to think of AIDS as primarily in Africa, but it permeates everywhere, even in our churches. Third, Nazarenes believe in and preach holiness. This is exactly the key if we want to stop the spread of AIDS. Research is showing that science alone does not work. Holy living is the best antidote to AIDS, and we have an opportunity to get our message across.

FT: What are the resources that you will be working with?

ER: The leadership of each region takes the initiative for AIDS ministries. I work with a wonderful Nazarene Compassionate Ministries team in each region. We work with the support of each local church to raise awareness, developing an AIDS-informed curriculum and a local agenda of ministry. We see the generosity of many who have assisted in funding AIDS projects in Africa, where the epidemic has hit the hardest. But we still have many other countries in Africa and elsewhere anxious to begin AIDS projects, yet unfunded. Human resources are even more important. I pray that we have the right people, committed, nonjudgmental, loving, persistent, and evangelistic, in strategic locations-trained in community development and health related disciplines.

FT: What does your assignment entail?

ER: I coordinate regional efforts related to AIDS, visiting various fields, providing technical and medical advice, creating contextualized AIDS curricula, as well as compiling resources. I link and mobilize people and funds where the need is most urgent.

FT: How can Nazarenes at a local level get involved?

ER: Each ministry ought to engage AIDS ministries, especially using the services of the youth, Sunday School leadership, Nazarene Missions International, and pastors. Churches need to be informed, raise awareness, and learn what projects need funding. There are opportunities to adopt AIDS children, involve health care professionals, sponsor workshops and seminars, or volunteer in rescue missions or other places where the need is great.

FT: How do you marry your professional medical life with traditional church roles and your own spiritual development?

ER: For me, medicine, mission, and compassion go hand in hand. My first call was to study medicine. Then, God made clear my calling to serve in missions. I believe that we should try to invest our skills and gifts in missions to serve God's kingdom.

FT: Why did you take this job on?

ER: I love challenges. This is a very good one! In addition, God has a vision for the Church of the Nazarene. I believe God is asking us to be His loving, compassionate, and therapeutic community in the world.

FT: Where is the need the greatest?

ER: Africa is the most vulnerable area of the world. This is a region where we should focus our attention. However, if we put on Jesus' lens, we will discover the problems of Africa in all other regions of the world. The most urgent need is to see a change in attitude. We need to educate ourselves about the AIDS reality and ask God to help us love people living with AIDS. Increasing numbers are dying every day in complete desolation.

FT: How does it feel, as a Mexican lay leader, to work at Nazarene headquarters?

ER: It's not easy for a Latina to be working in a global scale. I have the challenge to grow more multicultural, since I am moving every day from one cultural setting to another. I praise the Lord for everything. He has placed me where I believe I belong. He is also helping me see that my limitations (language, gender, being single, and having little bureaucratic experience) are only opportunities to see Him working and doing great things.

Fletcher L. Tink is an urban missions specialist who has conducted urban and leadership training in 25 nations.

Please note: All facts, figures, and titles were accurate to the best of our knowledge at the time of original publication but may have since changed.