Skip to main content

PACCT IV



In preparing for the fourth training event for our Pastoral and Congregational Care Training (PACCT) program, I wrote this little dittie and emailed it to Gabriel, our Country Director:

Mobilize the PACCT Committee
Assemble all the troops
PACCT IV is on the loose!

Moira Chimombo is coming
as is Dr. C. and his team*
Dr. Gaston stands ready
with angel Gabriel abeam

March 10 is the date!
But where shall we meet?
How shall we proceed?
And what shall we eat?

At the end of the day
when all is said and done,
We finally will have the Program
that shall not be undone.



The day of training unfolded beautifully. The PACCT Committee decided to meet in the comfortable conference room of St. John of God hospital in Mzuzu. A total of 22 participants from the previous workshops arrived ready to do good and important work.



Draft #1 of the PACCT Traning Manual was reviewed and revised page by page, section by section, to every one's satisfaction. Fascinating questions and issues surfaced such as the role of persons with HIV as trainers in the churches, and whether circumcision really reduces the chances of AIDS infection, and how to stop predatory behaviour in the public schools, and more than I can't share on a blog.

Lillian, an AIDS activist, herself diagnosed and coping with HIV/AIDS, leads a discussion at the training event. She also serves as Chair of the Presbyterian AIDS Program in Malawi and board member of CitiHope Malawi.


Dr. Andy Gaston, Medical Director of the Presbyterian AIDS Program, leads discussion on what sections of the Training Manual should be removed and what should be included in the final version.


Dr. Donald Messer presented a compelling summary of the "Alphabet of Life" including the ABC's of AIDS prevention and DEF of Development, Equality of Gender, and Development.


Bob Robinson, a pastoral Counselor from Baltimore, offered an introduction to Pastoral Counseling with attention to developing empathetic listening skills.


Rev. William Mumba engages in group discussion over the problem of stigma in the churches.Bring forth the Training Manual


PACCT participants are ready for PACCT V --a 5 day training the trainers event--in June after the revised Manual is ready. What delighted me most was to hear all the participants claim ownership of the Training Manual that was two years in the making: "This is very unique. This is our manual. We produced it. It's not top down but bottom up", etc. They are rightfully proud of what the group has produced as AIDS prevention curriculum for the churches.

Popular posts from this blog

Mother Shalom

South Central, Los Angeles, was the neighborhood in the city where Communities of Shalom began in 1992. I met Marx Gutierrez from El Salvador who was there attending High School at the time. He remembers what happened at the corner of Florence and Normandy Streets in South Central, LA, when Reginald Denny was pulled out of his truck and beaten while the crowd looked on and the police did nothing; and how the Rodney King beating resulted in a not-guilty verdict for the police and resulted in a major, 3-day uprising in the neighborhood, until the National Guard came in and finally imposed law and order. He can still remember the fires, the bright orange night sky, the mass looting, 45 unsolved killings, the social chaos...And how the United Methodist Churches responded by creating a zone of shalom in 7 neighborhoods of Los Angeles. Today, Marx is a community organizer, and married to Jennifer Gutierrez, Conference Shalom Coordinator in the Calif-Pacific Annual Conference, and Rev. Vilma

First Generation Lambs Club Reunion

Fifteen of us gathered Saturday night at the Lambs Club for a 35 th year reunion of those who helped start the Lamb’s Church in Times Square in the mid to late 1970’s, including: Rev. Paul S. Moore , Founder of the Lamb’s Church of the Nazarene, and his wife, Tamara Dr. Michael J. Christensen , charter member and former associate pastor, and his wife Dr. Rebecca Laird Fr. William (BJ) Webe r, former Associate Pastor and Director of the Lamb’s Residency, and his wife Sheila who lived at the Lamb’s Jim and Dustee Hullinger, who were on staff together and made the Lamb’s their home for over 25 years Effie Canepa , who was the church pianist under 3 pastors, and her husband Peter Shirley Close, who attended the Lamb’s in the late 1970’s while studying, performing  and teaching music and voice Carl "Chappy" Valente , former associate pastor Rev. Bob DiQuatto , lead singer of the Church’s “Manhattan Project” and staff member of the Lamb’s, and his son Jason Rev. Gabriel

Liberation Spirituality: Henri Nouwen and Gustavo Gutierrez in Dialogue

Liberation Spirituality: Henri Nouwen and Gustavo Gutierrez in Dialogue Lecture Notes: Presented by Michael J. Christensen, Ph.D.,  Associate Professor in the Practice of Spirituality and Ministry,  Drew University;  and  International Director, Communities of Shalom, The United Methodist Church Introduction “There is a little man in Peru, a man without any power, who lives in a barrio with poor people and who wrote a book.   In this book he simply reclaimed the basic Christian truth that God became human to bring good news to the poor, new light to the blind, and liberty to the captives.   Then years later this book and movement it started is considered a danger by [the USA, or Rome], the greatest power on earth.   When I look at this little man, Gustavo, and think about [the President of the US, or the Pope], I see David standing before Goliath, again with no more weapon than a little stone, a stone called A Theology of Liberation (Henri Nouwen