Churches look to step up as government services dwindle under Trump

Where the federal government is pulling back, churches are looking to step up.  

Amid the Trump administration's funding cuts and the ongoing government shutdown, houses of worship have felt a responsibility to step up services for students, immigrants and others who are struggling. From increases in anti-hunger initiatives to programs for federal workers who have been furloughed, religious leaders say all their efforts and more are deeply needed right now.

“We have run a series of free workshops on headshots, resumes and LinkedIn profiles really helping federal workers,” said Rev. Meredith Lovell Keseley, senior pastor at Abiding Presence Lutheran Church in Burke, Va.  

“We have found that it is essential the church step into the space with federal workers to, first and foremost, affirm that the work that they've done matters — it's important and that the loudest voice that they hear are voices of gratitude for their federal service. Then, second, that they have gifts and skills, and those gifts and skills are needed in the world, and we want to walk alongside them to help them figure out where God is calling them next,” she added.  

More than 750,000 federal workers are currently furloughed as the government drags through its second week of a shutdown. Many of those on furlough have to worry about threats from President Trump and the White House of permanent layoffs or that back pay will be withheld when the government reopens.  

And those numbers are separate from the thousands of federal workers who have left or lost their jobs under Trump, including 15,000 individuals voluntarily resigning at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), more than 6,500 employees fired at the Internal Revenue Service, over 2,000 staffers laid off at the Education Department and the thousands of others affected by government downsizing.

Long before the funding lapse, the Trump administration has slashed millions of dollars in funding to different agencies and programs, driving up need for private institutions to fill in the gap, including on anti-hunger work. 

“I know we are starting to see increased need across our communities when it comes to some of the basics. So, food that includes pantry services ... when we're providing either bag lunches, for instance, at our congregation, or sit-down meals, we're seeing an increasing number of individuals seeking to take advantage of those opportunities on the ground,” said Rev. Joe Morrow, associate pastor at Fourth for Mission and Community Engagement in Chicago.

“I think that is because of decreased resources available for them at the federal level, the impending cuts and cuts that have happened already to SNAP benefits, economic precariousness with respect to the job market and food inflation, price inflation, all that, I think, is driving individuals and families towards many of our ministries of direct support,” Morrow added.  

According to GovFacts.org, the Trump administration has cut more than 200 federal programs in his first nine months in office, hitting a wide range of issues including education, health care and immigration.  

The cuts in the education sector have spurred some churches in Texas to offer English language courses that normally schools would have provided to immigrants, NPR reported this week.

Meanwhile, five local faith groups in Connecticut donated $10,000 to Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services after the government stopped funding to the organization back in January, according to Yale Daily News. 

Keseley said as government agencies become smaller, her church has started internship programs for college students.  

“We have seen a decrease in the number of internship opportunities offered to college students, specifically the number of paid internship opportunities that are available to them. And so our church has created a paid summer internship program where college students come on board with us, and it is a chance for them to both intentionally have time to think about their faith, their leadership skills, and to engage in vocational discernment around how their gifts and skills might be best used in the world,” she added.  

The cuts have spread far, affecting not only direct government services but the vast networks of nonprofit groups that supplement their work.

“In terms of significant funding cuts, there are organizations, including church-affiliated organizations that we've worked with for decades" that saw funding cuts "overnight," said Susannah Cunningham, senior director for the Building Resilient Communities team at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, highlighting these groups did work in legal services, education opportunities and other issues.  

She said some groups needed churches to fill in the funding gap “to ensure that high school programming” and other initiatives continued “for vulnerable populations.” 

While churches across the country are seeing increased need and are looking to step up to the plate, advocates are worried their efforts won’t be enough.  

“The fact that we have a sort of a national crisis of hunger at our food pantries around the U.S., that the church will step into the gap, but never be able to fill the one that is being created by a collision of the end of USDA support to food pantries, the increase in price of foods and inflation generally, and employment-related issues and fears and anxiety about the economy, all of these colliding and in ways that I think are catastrophic for lower and middle class families,” Cunningham said.