A global Baptist organization representing around 53 million people across numerous regional churches seeks to help raise funds for international aid that has been lost to the recent cuts by the Trump administration.
The Baptist World Alliance held the "Stand in the Gap Solidarity Sunday" this week in a bid to boost support for international aid programs.
BWA spokesperson J. Merritt Johnston told The Christian Post that the event was launched in response to what she described as "a rapid deceleration of humanitarian aid around the world."
"The BWA is hearing from Baptist groups from around the world imploring us to send urgent life-saving assistance," Johnston said. "We cannot replace the millions of aid dollars that have been lost, but as the Church, we also cannot sit on the sidelines."
"We have encouraged churches to participate in Solidarity Sunday on March 30 or a future fifth Sunday, dedicating a portion of their service to pray and to receive a love offering to respond to the needs at this critical time."
Although BWA does not presently receive federal funding through the United States Agency on International Development, some of its partners, including those affiliated with the Baptist Forum for Aid and Development, do.
"BWA is comprised of 266 member partners in 134 countries and territories. Member partners in areas that are impacted request support to meet specific needs in their contexts," Johnston explained.
"The grant requests are reviewed by the Baptist World Aid team and funds are distributed as available to respond to as many requests as we can. Those living in impacted areas know firsthand what the needs are and how best to meet them."
BWA hopes "to network the resources of our global family so that local leaders on the ground can receive what they need to respond and share the love of Christ in practical ways across their communities."
President Donald Trump has sought to drastically cut funding and personnel from USAID, alleging that the agency has engaged in extensive wasteful spending.
Examples cited by the White House include $1.5 million spent on "advance diversity equity and inclusion in Serbia's workplaces and business communities," $2 million spent on sex change operations and "LGBT activism" in Guatemala and the delivery of hundreds of thousands of free meals to al Qaeda-affiliated terrorists in Syria.
Critics, among them multiple Christian nonprofits, have argued that the cuts — which reportedly amounted to 92% of USAID and State Department foreign assistance-related grants and contracts — have terminated life-saving programs for vulnerable communities overseas.
In a statement announcing the "Stand in the Gap" initiative, BWA says its leaders are receiving requests for help from places like the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo, where hospitals are overwhelmed and thousands are displaced while churches lack resources to provide water, food and medical care needed. On the conflict-ridden Thailand-Myanmar border, BWA says some have died seeking medical assistance when health clinics in displacement camps were temporarily suspended under stop-work orders.
In a 5-4 unsigned opinion released March 5, the United States Supreme Court denied the Trump administration's request to freeze $2 billion in USAID reimbursement funds, upholding a lower court order.
As a result, the Evangelical humanitarian aid charity Samaritan's Purse was able to receive a $19 million reimbursement for work it did to provide food and medical care to people in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and South Sudan.
Originally published by The Christian Post
