GARY HOPKINS

VER THE PAST FEW YEARS SEVERAL colleagues of mine and I have been working on better understanding what we can do to prevent the behaviors that contribute to the transmission of HIV, the virus that has been identified to cause AIDS. The focus of our work has been directed at adolescents between the ages of 12 and 20 (approximately). The reason for studying young people is that globally, greater than 50 percent of the new cases of AIDS are found in those under 25 years of age. Tragically, AIDS has emerged as a problem of youth.

As a part of our research we ask questions that test the participants' AIDS knowledge. Using a written questionnaire, we ask the young people, usually students enrolled in high schools, if they can get AIDS from toilet seats, mosquitoes, holding hands, and more. During the analysis phase we actually score the students' proficiency in the AIDS knowledge section.

In research conducted on samples in Romania, the Philippines, the Caribbean, Armenia, the United States, Canada, and other locations, we have learned that generally students are well educated regarding HIV/AIDS. In other words, they tend to know the information that they need to know.

In the same questionnaire we include several questions to measure the extent that the participants have or have not engaged in sexual intercourse and drug use-both behaviors known to be associated with the transmission of the AIDS virus. Our findings vary, but one item that keeps emerging in every study is that there is virtually no association between their AIDS knowledge and AIDS behaviors. In other words, regardless of how much they know about AIDS (knowledge), they often tend to practice behaviors that put them at risk (sometimes very high risk) for contracting or transmitting the AIDS virus.

It doesn't appear that AIDS education alone results in effective prevention of AIDS.

What does This Teach Us About Our Church?
In a recent discussion with Bailey Gillespie, the lead researcher in the Valuegenesis studies, I asked him at what age our youth understand the Adventist message. In other words, when do our kids have the basic spiritual knowledge of the Bible and our church? Gillespie has measured this and informed me that by the sixth grade our kids generally understand the story of Jesus, the good news of the forgiveness of sin, the second coming of Christ, the Sabbath, and other basic spiritual matters.

Yet when I look at our church at large, I can't help noticing that a large percentage of our young people are quitting the church about the time that they finish high school. I don't know the exact percentage of kids that drop out of church, but I find that in some cases it is greater than 50 percent.

I decided to test further (yet informally) the relationship between knowledge and behavior. When giving lectures, I often start by asking the audience how many of them exercise as much as they think they should. Depending on the group, somewhere between 5 and 30 percent of the people raise their hands.

I follow this question by asking them how many of them understand that exercise leads to better health. Without exception, nearly all of the hands go up. People know they should exercise, but only a minority actually do.

One day it suddenly hit me that our kids are quitting this church even though they generally understand the good news of the gospel. They have the knowledge, but that excellent information has not translated into their commitment to remain in our church.

After puzzling about this very weak relationship between what we know and what we do, I searched for something that I already knew but apparently only poorly understood. First and foremost, it is our responsibility to love. The Bible is replete with instructions to love our brother and sister, how the most important commandments are to love God and then to love humanity, and more. First Corinthians 13 makes this very clear: "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my good to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing" (verses 1-3, NKJV).

I can't help wondering if our church hasn't turned into an information- or message-only organization. If all we have is a message-and I absolutely believe in the accuracy of the Adventist message-we clearly don't have enough. Our message in the absence of love is insufficient. We must move beyond the message alone and become a loving organization. And I believe that we need to learn how to do this by starting with our kids.

Do your nominating committee members have to get on their knees to beg adults to work in the kindergarten, primary, and other children's divisions? This is a common scenario in our churches. Maybe we should shut down our adult Sabbath schools and send the adults to the youngsters' divisions for a month or so. Maybe the adults will get so invigorated that they will stay in the younger divisions and not return to the adult Sabbath schools. Is your church oriented to the spiritual development of your kids?

I think that if someone ran in to your adult Sabbath school class this coming Sabbath and screamed, "There's an emergency in the kids' divisions and their very lives are threatened!" I think that most of you would get up and run to help without any hesitation at all.

Well, an emergency is taking place in those divisions. Many or most of those kids will leave the church, and many will stray away from a relationship with Jesus Christ. We may try to correct this by bringing in great speakers (with a wonderful message), purchasing well-made videos that seem extremely convincing, or maybe purchasing loud sound equipment so that the kids can play their own variety of music. Or maybe you can think of things that can or should be done. The issue here isn't a lack of knowing what the speakers or videos have to say or the absence of music with a beat; it's a lack of caring. Do you get it? The problem is you and the problem is me; the problem isn't the kids. We don't care enough for the kids of our church to devote our churches to their welfare. Most churches are about adults and message.

In my travels I am often asked if it's true that American Adventist institutions actually employ non-Adventists. My response is that until we retain our kids in church, we won't have enough Adventists to work in our schools, hospitals, etc. There may not even be enough young Adventists around for our children to marry.

So how do we learn to love? Maybe this is told best in a story.

What's in a Name?
The story takes place in a very small town in the Northwest, where alcohol and teen pregnancy surfaced as problems. The city leaders were concerned about their kids and would often hold town meetings to discuss what to do.

They started with the logical steps. Experts in teen pregnancy were consulted, and thousands of dollars were spent on the purchase of a very fancy teen pregnancy prevention program along with drug prevention programs. These seemed to look great, and the town implemented these programs for a few years. Interesting speakers were paid to give assembly talks to the kids about drugs, alcohol, and teen pregnancy. They spent a lot of money on their prevention efforts.

Evaluation of their efforts showed that the rates of teen pregnancy had seemed to remain the same. The number of girls in that school who had quit because of pregnancy hadn't changed when a comparison was made of dropouts before and after the program had been initiated. And it appeared that no fewer kids were using alcohol or drugs.

A special board meeting was held, and the members just stared at each other for a few minutes. They were really surprised. The kids had enjoyed the programs, but nothing of what they had tried had been effective. What had happened? What were they going to do?

Then a board member who was an older rancher, wearing cowboy boots, with his feet propped up on a chair, said, "It seems like when I was a kid, everyone in town knew us, called us by name, and sort of hooked into our lives. People were real back then, and these problems weren't very common. Maybe we should get to know these kids." Board members reminisced about their earlier days, and then someone came up with an idea. "Let's hold a town meeting. That wouldn't be difficult. There are only about 1,200 people living here. Let's ask every adult in town to learn the name of every kid. Let's greet them every time we see them and get to know them. Maybe that will have some effect." The board members weren't overwhelmed with the idea, but decided to give it a try. A town meeting was held, and the idea was presented. The townspeople seemed willing to make a go of it. What did they have to lose? It wouldn't cost anything.

So the plan was put into place. Names were learned, and relationships between adults and kids were nurtured.

Several months after the townspeople started on their effort to learn the names of the local kids, they held another town meeting. An enthusiastic buzz reverberated throughout the room. People couldn't wait to tell their stories, and every person in the room seemed to have one. People told of the relationships that they had developed with youngsters in town that started by just learning their names.

At a school board meeting a couple of years later the registrar mentioned something interesting. "It looks as if the number of school dropouts has decreased for some reason. I did some digging of my own, and it appears that the number of girls who quit school because of pregnancy has decreased." There were still a few pregnancies among the students, but improvement was obvious. "Do you think that this has something to do with the townspeople learning the names of the kids?"

In fact, in that town, arrests for alcohol and drugs among the high school kids had decreased also. All of this started by learning the kids' names.

The way of measuring whether or not you know the kids well enough is by watching to see what happens when you see a young person at the grocery store or some other location. If they see you and simply wave, your relationship with them isn't strong enough. If they see you and actually run to you, you've got it right.

Love in Action
We must transform from a church with "the right message" to a church that genuinely cares. This all could start with learning the names of not only the young people, but everyone who comes through the door of the church.

Maybe we should look hard at our evangelistic efforts. Are they simply information- or message-based? Or do all of our members who are committed to Christ meet each individual who attends these meetings to learn their names and nurture relationships? Are we making our evangelism plans to include a multitude of relationships? If we did, we could then call it health evangelism, as research shows that loved people survive heart attacks more, survive cancer more, live longer, heal faster after surgery, take drugs less often, survive AIDS longer, and much more.

Have you seen evangelism that has progressed from the meetings (mostly message) through the baptismal tank and out the back door of the church? Ever wonder why? It's probably because of a lack of love and caring relationships once the people were in the church. And it's probably not because of a lack of understanding the message.

Have you ever considered planning monthly 11:00 services as a session on how to help members of your community with their actual perceived needs? Maybe planning how to feed the poor; transport the poor, sick, and elderly; visit the incarcerated; get involved in your school, whether it be public or Seventh-day Adventist; and more?

Can you imagine what would happen if we combined the correct message with the correct love? Are you eager for the day when people say, "Those Adventist are the kindest and most loving people you will ever know"?

That's what we all say about Jesus when we get to know Him. For me, I'm more overwhelmed and touched by His love than the message alone. How about you?

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* G. L. Hopkins, J. Hopp, M. H. Hopp, C. Rhoads, G. Rhoads, "AIDS Risk Among Students Attending Seventh-day Adventist Schools in North America," Journal of School Health 68, No. 4 (1998): 141-145.

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Gary Hopkins, M.D., Dr.Ph., is assistant professor of the Department of Health Promotion and Education at the School of Public Health at Loma Linda University, and assistant director of the Health Ministries Department of the General Conference.