The termination notice arrived on Presidents’ Day. Paris Rossiter had worked at the Federal Emergency Management Agency for a year and a half and had taken on a new role as a civil rights analyst about six months ago. That started a 12-month probationary period, making him subject to sweeping and indiscriminate cuts in the name of government efficiency by the Trump administration.

With more cuts expected, congregations in the Washington, D.C., area are facing collective angst and grasping for hope. Church members who work in government or government-adjacent roles to support marginalized populations worry they could be next — regardless of how long they have been in their position — and are now working to support each other as well.

“Anybody who starts a new role in any phase of the government starts a ‘probationary period.’ That would have happened even if I had been there 16 years,” said Rossiter, a lay leader and pastor’s spouse at Capital Christian Fellowship, an LMC and Evana Network congregation in Lanham, Md. “… I have my doubts, based on the speed in which this was all done, as to if the people actually carrying out these acts knew what they were doing.”

As a civil rights analyst in FEMA’s recovery section, Rossiter worked to ensure the agency’s mission was being carried out fairly and equitably. He lamented the political division that has crept into public service.

“It’s very unfortunate about these terms,” Rossiter said. “Diversity is a great thing. It’s a growth strategy. If you look at your 401(k), you want diversity. You want equity to make sure things are fair. It’s good to have inclusion; no one wants to feel excluded.

“It’s unfortunate to take these noble things and put them into an acronym and weaponize it. It’s a sad thing. We’re just trying to make things better.”

Rosanna Landis Weaver, a lay leader at Community House Church, an unaffiliated congregation in Washington, is married to a federal employee. She said everyone in the region is affected directly or indirectly by the changes.

“Many of our members who work in various government agencies have been instructed not to speak to the press,” she said. “Many others work in some sort of job that protects ‘the least of these,’ including some that have received some level of government funding.”

Members work for USAID and the departments of Justice, Labor, State, and Health and Human Services, which includes the National Institutes of Health. Worship plans in February were modified to focus on passages from Lamentations and create more room for sharing and prayer.

“There were so many passionate prayers: for strength, for courage, for consolation,” Weaver said. “Many were deeply troubled by the inability to even talk about diversity, equity or inclusion. Those principles have always felt aligned with our faith. Folks who had spent their careers trying to promote all sorts of training, aid and education for disadvantaged populations now felt like they had targets on their backs.”

Another Community House Church member, who requested her name not be used, said on March 3 she had not been fired but had begun packing up her office. She said the congregation had formed a support group and created an encrypted text group to provide support and information. She said many federal workers have moved personal conversations to apps like Signal, which offer a higher level of privacy from government intrusion or censorship.

Weaver said it had been difficult to plan worship services because many members struggle with “trusting in God’s presence through times when we see evil in the world.” She recalled that a member who works at USAID shared about being locked out of their place of work, then returned to find most colleagues fired by emails that did not even address them by name.

“This is made harder by the fact that many of our sisters and brothers seem unwilling to look directly at what this administration has been doing,” Weaver said. “I told a friend that I think if I am ever in a Dirk Willems situation, I expect it will be Christians chasing me. But then again, it was Christians aligned with the state that chased him and martyred him despite his act of courage and mercy.”

Jess Gaul, minister for community life at Washington Community Fellowship, a multidenominational church affiliated with Virginia Conference of Mennonite Church USA, echoed a desire for closeness and resistance.

She noted several people from the congregation have been furloughed from jobs in international development, and others who work to support immigrants and refugees are under intense stress.

“Our heartbeat at WCF seems to be set on supporting each other fiercely, while also discerning what will best support our broader community,” she said.

Hyattsville Mennonite Church in Maryland, part of MC USA’s Allegheny Mennonite Conference, includes people who work in more than 15 government departments, in sectors such as the Department of Health and Human Services or the Environmental Protection Agency.

“They are fearful and angry, and seeing the injustice of the cuts close-up,” said Pastor Cindy Lapp.

One federal employee who requested her name not be used lamented working more than 15 years as a public servant to ensure policies and programs are efficient, effective and equitable for vulnerable people such as infants, children with disabilities and disabled veterans, only to see those efforts destroyed and attacked in hateful ways based on lies.

She misses quiet days without vitriol and remembers the value of good people, community and connecting with God on what can be done from moment to moment.

Lapp said federal workers in the congregation are meeting to support each other amid the unknowns. Hyattsville has developed a CALM team for Creative, Agile, Loving Mennonites to hold one or two events a week for support. This can include silent meditation, contemplative prayer, art activities, acupuncture and mindfulness exercises.

“Our congregational theme for the year is cultivating community and deepening joy, which we are living into with more commitment each day,” she said.

Community is a priority for Anabaptists around the Beltway. Rossiter isn’t the only current or recently retired federal worker at Capital Christian Fellowship.

“There are several others who work for the Department of Defense or quasi-governmental agencies like the Smithsonian,” he said. “I think everyone is seeing what’s happened with me and are concerned about their own roles.

“I go to a great church and a great community. They’re praying for all of us working for the government.”

He’s also heard a diversity of responses from Trump voters he knows on social media — some cheer on the work of the Department on Government Efficiency while others feel the president’s actions are headed in the wrong direction.

“I think people don’t really see what’s happening or have maybe a different or skewed reality to not realize what this looks like in someone’s life,” Rossiter said. “… Everyone would say we should eliminate [fraud, waste and abuse] and be more efficient, but I think how we do things signifies our values and who we are as people.”