This spring, the Trump administration got into a real fight with the Catholic Church—not just words, but action.
In April, the White House cut $11 million in federal funding that was supporting the Catholic Church’s charitable, educational, and medical work worldwide. That clash highlights exactly what Vice President JD Vance has been pointing out: churches that lean too heavily on government money risk becoming extensions of the welfare state.
Unfortunately, the Adventist Church has fallen into the same trap in many areas. Since the 1960s, we’ve increasingly turned to government funding for our charitable work, especially through ADRA (Adventist Development and Relief Agency). ADRA runs a huge global network, but the vast majority of its budget—usually 60–70%—comes from government grants, mostly from USAID. In 2023, for example, it received $62.6 million from USAID, which made up about 67% of its total revenue. The rest came from private donations, companies, and church support.
It started with good intentions. Adventists have always cared for people—running hospitals, food banks, Dorcas societies, schools, and more. But when the Great Society programs exploded in the 1960s, the church gradually became a middleman, taking federal dollars to run programs the government approved. It would be nice to see them begin to extricate the church from the federal leviathan.
The problem is, this shift undermines core Adventist values: religious liberty and self-reliance. Instead of staying independent, we’ve added layers of bureaucracy and become dependent on taxpayer money. When the big institutions rely on government funding, it can actually discourage regular members from giving and serving locally, because it feels like “the government is already handling it.”
Look at what works best. The biggest Adventist church in the world, in Loma Linda, California, supports all kinds of outreach—tutoring kids, food banks, health fairs, senior services, mission trips, and a thrift store—without a single dollar of government money. Many smaller congregations and projects do the same. They prove it’s possible.
Meanwhile, decades of massive federal antipoverty spending haven’t solved poverty. The rate has stayed stuck between 11% and 15% since the mid-1960s, and programs like food stamps and Medicaid often create dependency instead of independence. Jesus said the poor will always be with us—not as an excuse to keep them poor, but as a call for the church to do real, personal work.
Some Adventist leaders have even fought against welfare reforms and cuts to foreign aid, just like some Catholic voices opposed stronger work requirements for able-bodied adults. But helping people means teaching them to fish, not just handing out fish forever. Work and dignity matter, and people feel better about themselves after exchanging honest labor for an honest paycheck.
Church employees and leaders tied to federal grants understandably want more funding. But we should be asking harder questions: Is this money actually helping people escape poverty long-term? Are we staying true to our principles?
It’s time for Adventist leaders to push for smarter government spending—not just more of it—and to start reducing our dependence on the federal system. Plenty of our own local churches and ministries already show it can be done (the Village Church in Michigan, case in point).
The church is part of the body of Christ. We shouldn’t be a handmaid to the welfare state.
Real help for the poor requires keeping that line clear. (For comparison, Samaritan’s Purse does incredible work around the world—and accepts very little government funding.)
****
