Students are warned not only against unprotected sexual intercourse but also against the use of injectable drugs, the sharing of needles by steroid users, ear piercing with unsterilized needles and bonding rituals that involve mingling blood. The curriculum includes sessions to help parents discuss AIDS effectively within their families. It urges parents to become knowledgeable about AIDS and to become partners in the education of their children. Parents and church school teachers are encouraged to preview the material and lesson plans together before the AIDS prevention program begins in their church. Lessons are carefully designed for each age group and provide information appropriate for that age.
Older children learn that sexual intercourse is a behavior appropriate only for adults.
The church is called to be a co-partner with God in promoting life in abundance, to support and minister to the sick, and to comfort the dying and those who are in grief. Among people who believe that repressing factual AIDS information and making the means to protection inaccessible will safeguard their children, AIDS-aware congregations can be beacons of hope, truth and genuine caring. Description of lesson plans The Adult Learning Series helps adults assess their own degree of risk for HIV infection, strengthens personal understanding of the Christian community as a place where serious issues can be discussed, uses the knowledge of adults whose lives are affected by HIV or AIDS, and challenges adults to commit themselves to AIDS ministry. The Parents Learning Series encourages parents to talk with their children about HIV transmission and AIDS, teaches practical communication skills to help parents discuss AIDS with their families, and helps parents see themselves as partners in the experience of teaching and learning about AIDS in the setting of the church. Children learn that God loves everyone, including healthy and sick people, and that illness is not a divine punishment.