Key points:
- United Methodists around the globe are feeling the impact of the cutoff of U.S. foreign aid.
- Africa University and the United Methodist Committee on Relief are among the United Methodist ministries that have long worked with partners in the U.S. government.
- A former United Methodist missionary explains why USAID has served both U.S. interests and her own call as a Christian.
Anna Bostic’s experience as a United Methodist missionary inspired her to pursue a career promoting health and fighting poverty around the globe.
She did just that for six years with an international development company that worked closely with the United States Agency for International Development.
Now, Bostic and more than 160,000 others are out of a job and their life-saving services halted since President Trump’s administration stopped all payments for U.S. foreign aid — even for projects already completed before his inauguration.
“It was really strangulation by nonpayment,” she said.
A federal judge ruled March 18 that billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency likely violated the U.S. constitution in its dismantling of USAID. The judge blocked further cuts to the agency. However, that ruling stops short of reversing USAID’s job terminations. The Trump administration is appealing the ruling.
Meanwhile, the upheaval at USAID has already affected United Methodist ministries as well as individual United Methodists worldwide.
At Africa University, a pan-African United Methodist university in Zimbabwe, the immediate freeze of USAID funding in January has stopped programs researching malaria and tuberculosis. Staff members on those efforts no longer were getting their paychecks.
James H. Salley, president and chief executive officer of Africa University, said the freeze had an immediate $1.2 million impact on the university. Now the university is working on fundraising to alleviate the damage.
The cutoff of funds is having far-reaching consequences in Zimbabwe.
A United Methodist in Zimbabwe, who wished to stay anonymous because of her work, said her country has dealt with a rise in tuberculosis cases since the onset of the COVID pandemic in 2020. Funding from USAID enabled Zimbabweans to test for bacteria-caused lung disease and provide treatment to those infected. Now the United Methodist worries the often-deadly disease is spreading undetected.
The Rev. Gina Anderson-Cloud, senior pastor of Floris United Methodist Church in Herndon, Virginia, said her congregation is worried for its partner Helping Children Worldwide in Sierra Leone. The ministry, birthed at Floris and supported by USAID grants, provides malaria medication in the west African country’s remote villages.
With its own membership hurting from federal layoffs, Floris is not in a position to make up the difference.
“We fear a limited medication supply will cause suffering particularly to those under age 5 and pregnant mothers,” Anderson-Cloud said.
In February, the United Methodist Council of Bishops sent a letter to Trump urging the restoration of foreign aid funding. Their letter noted that the United Methodist Committee on Relief has long partnered with U.S. relief offices in the denomination’s disaster response.
The bishops also noted they wrote the letter as they strive to help United Methodists suffering from conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels’ capture of towns has escalated the violence. This month, armed men invaded two United Methodist health centers in eastern Congo, attacking staff and looting supplies.
“We are deeply concerned that abruptly ending aid in regions of the world like the DRC could exacerbate suffering and create environments ripe for even greater and long-standing unrest, forced migration and death,” the bishops wrote.
For her part, Bostic worries more for the lives of all people suddenly cut off than her own livelihood.
Subscribe to our
e-newsletter
Bostic, who previously served with the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries in rural development work in Grenada, is a longtime church member. She also has degrees in international development from American University and theological studies from Wesley Theological Seminary — both United Methodist-related institutions.
She sees both a practical and spiritual dimension to U.S. investments in foreign assistance.
U.S. foreign policy, she said, long has consisted of three branches — defense provided by the military, diplomacy guided by the U.S. State Department and international development supported by USAID.
She said development work serves U.S. interests both by generating goodwill and by promoting security. Foreign aid helps reduce global conflict, the spread of communicable diseases and the grinding poverty that make the world less stable.
International development also is the right thing to do, she said. The nonprofit Center for Global Development estimates that U.S. work to prevent deaths from HIV/AIDS, malaria and vaccine-preventable diseases saves about 3.3 million lives a year.
“The work of USAID was an expression of the moral values of Americans to help others,” Bostic said. “And as a person of faith, I was proud that my country devoted even a small part of our resources to bringing relief, dignity, health and prosperity to God’s children in other countries. I believe this is the type of care for the vulnerable and marginalized that Jesus spoke about time and time again.”
She said the federal government — under court order — is finally paying some of its outstanding bills to her former employer, DAI, an employee-owned international development company. However, she added, that likely won’t be enough to save DAI, which has seen its federal contracts terminated.
But she is also grateful for the support of her faith community at Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church in downtown Washington.
“We hold one another in prayer and extend compassion in this time of widespread uncertainty,” she said. “I’ve had a number of folks say they are looking out for job opportunities for me, and who have offered to help if my family and I need assistance during this difficult time.”
Return to main story, Churches confront mass federal layoffs
Hahn is assistant news editor for UM News. Contact her at (615) 742-5470 or [email protected]. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free UM News Digest.