At an uncertain time, federal workers and ministers keep the faith

WASHINGTON — Every Sunday, some of the roughly 450,000 federal workers in the nation’s capital region worship at one of the Churches of Christ across the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia — known as the DMV.

As executive orders from President Donald Trump, budget slashing by tech billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency and cuts enacted by Cabinet secretaries or the Office of Personnel Management reduce the federal workforce, area Christians and congregations feel the impact.

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The Christian Chronicle interviewed a number of federal workers who declined to comment on the record for fear of losing their jobs.

Several area ministers, however, have seen the impact of the cuts on Christians in their pews and seek to support them through teaching, counseling and encouragement.

Bruce and Bernice McClure

“This is an excellent opportunity for the church to deal with this reality,” said Bruce McClure, minister for the Prince George’s Church of Christ in Landover, Md. “The major employer in the DMV is the federal government.”

McClure’s congregation, located about 15 minutes from downtown Washington, includes many members who are federal employees.

McClure, a licensed counselor, has stayed busy supporting those who have lost their jobs or fear they soon will.

“We have to address their hurts, and we have to say, ‘I know you are hurting, I know you are angry,’” McClure said. “I am doing a series of lessons where we are dealing with toxic relationships the entire year.

“To move forward, we have to look at how we got here,” the minister added. “We need to look at the characteristics of Jesus.”

McClure also said that people who want to support individuals in crisis should identify “mental health cries” from church members — and not just those facing current government cuts.

Christians minister to the homeless in Washington, D.C.

He listed eight warning signs: loss of excitement and direction, changes in eating and sleep patterns, numbness, depression, solitude and feelings of betrayal.

Churches must be mindful of how they interact with those facing personal challenges, McClure added — especially when circumstances seem unreasonable, ungodly, unjustifiable and undeserved.

‘Be strong in the Lord’

Floyd Williamson, minister for the Silver Spring Church of Christ in Maryland, began the year with a series of lessons he titled “Be Strong in the Lord.”

“I have focused on sermons that address comfort, compassion, unity and accepting differences,” Williamson said. “The sermons are not specifically directed to one thing but generally for us as Christians. We need to be strong and compassionate. It’s about helping people and letting them know the comfort they have in Christ.”

Willie Hubbard

At least one local minister is not alarmed by the workforce reductions.

Willie Hubbard serves as an elder and the minister for District Heights Church of Christ, just 6 miles southeast of the U.S. Capitol. He’s a military veteran who supported President Trump.

“My focus is to keep the focus on God,” Hubbard said. “The same God who was God when Joseph Biden was president is the same God who raised Donald Trump.”

Hubbard said he previously worked for the departments of Justice and Defense.

“When some people got government jobs, they felt like they were entitled,” he said. “They felt like they could come to work when they wanted to.”

“The same God who was God when Joseph Biden was president is the same God who raised Donald Trump.”

He stressed that’s not true of all government workers.

The District Heights church has a benevolence ministry that can “keep a roof over their head and food enough to eat, but with everything that is happening, it comes down to who do we put our faith in.”

Ministers and church members listen to Melvin Otey during a meeting hosted by the District Heights Church of Christ in Maryland.

He said God always has provided for him and never put him in a position where he was homeless.

“I am conservative,” Hubbard said. “As ministers, we need to be careful about social justice warriors. People are worrying because they are putting their faith in the wrong thing.”

“Sometimes people are put into situations where they have to  sharpen their perspective. I tell them I try not to worry because I know who is in control.”

Martin Charles, minister of the Church of Christ at 16th and Decatur in Washington, said many people have called him asking for prayer or help with other needs.

“God is in control, and nothing would happen unless it was his will,” Charles said. “Sometimes people are put into situations where they have to  sharpen their perspective. I tell them I try not to worry because I know who is in control.”

Seeing Daniel as an example

Don Ballard, minister for the University Park Church of Christ In Hyattsville, Md., has crafted a special ministry for government workers.

Don Ballard

“Over the years, I have always encouraged members of the body of Christ who work in civil capacities or government positions,” Ballard said. “To analyze the text and the character of individuals that we see in Scripture — Esther, Nehemiah, Ezra and Daniel — who had to operate as God’s child under a group of people who were not God’s people and who were not instructed by God’s law.”

Ballard said God used those individuals, particularly Daniel, who worked through different administrations.

Daniel “begins with Babylon and elevates by God’s favor,” Ballard said. “Then we see him as an elderly man still serving during the reign of Persia working through that adversity, working through that jealousy. He was able to navigate himself as God’s man.

“When you walk in integrity — and not swayed by political alliances but governed by the word of God — it’s not always popular,” the minister added. “It won’t be easy, but it will please God, and God will distinguish us.”

HAMIL R. HARRIS is a Christian Chronicle correspondent and a veteran journalist who spent two decades with the Washington Post. He preaches regularly for the Glenarden Church of Christ in Maryland.

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