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Join Christians Praying to Protect Foreign Aid
As followers of Christ, we are called to stand up for "the least of these"—to be the hands and feet of Jesus across the world.
For decades, America's foreign aid programs have embodied our Christian values on the global stage, serving as a beacon of hope and compassion for millions who face unimaginable hardship.
Yet today, devastating cuts to USAID and other foreign aid programs have crippled our ability to answer Christ's call to love our neighbors as ourselves. Life-saving programs and ministries from World Relief, World Vision, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops have had their budgets slashed and their staffs cut, devastating international mission work. While we debate line items, the world's most vulnerable—children, mothers, families—are facing horrors like human trafficking, starvation, and deadly disease.
Foreign aid programs represent just 1% of the United States’ annual budget. Yet this small fraction feeds the hungry, heals the sick, and shields the innocent from violence and disease.
A full year after USAID was gutted, Christian ministries and aid organizations are pleading with Washington to restore the funding. America spent roughly $26 billion less on foreign aid in 2025 than the year before, and so far in 2026 the total stands at about $7 billion—on pace for the lowest level of American generosity in decades. The Church has not stopped showing up for the world’s poor and persecuted. But the Church was never meant to carry this burden alone.
Somali displaced children with USAID food can outside Mogadishu, Somalia on February 5, 2025. AP Photo: Farah Abdi Warsameh
The damage reaches into every corner of this work, and mothers are paying one of the heaviest prices. A 2026 study modeling the USAID withdrawal across six West and Central African countries projected that maternal deaths could rise by as much as 45 percent. The loss of contraceptive care alone could lead to more than 8,000 additional maternal deaths.
As Christians, we can’t sit in silence while these programs are slashed and innocents suffer. Which is why we are joining together to pray that our elected officials lead with compassion for all God’s children and do everything in their power to protect foreign aid programs to shield innocent people from avoidable suffering.
Our Prayer
We pray that our leaders’ hearts will be softened and that they will make decisions based on Your teachings— to love others the way You first loved us, stand up for the vulnerable, and protect the least of these. We pray that You will guide our leaders to do everything in their power to protect foreign aid programs and support global ministries so that we as Christians may better answer Your call to feed the hungry, heal the sick, and protect the innocent. In Your Name, Amen.
