Around Washington, DC, you can see signs of the upcoming presidential transition. Security fencing went up around the Capitol building for the inauguration ceremony. Road closures rimmed the National Mall. The local airports saw constant traffic as people came to pick up their inauguration tickets.
While the city prepares for this week’s activities welcoming President Donald Trump back to the White House, churches in and around DC pray for what changes lie ahead—policies that affect the country overall along with the work and livelihoods of those in their pews.
The lawmakers, Hill staffers, and political appointees working in the District “don’t just win or lose an election; they win or lose jobs,” said Mark Batterson, pastor of National Community Church, a multisite congregation in DC.
The city is buzzing with anticipation and transition. People are waiting to hear back about jobs with the incoming administration. They are packing up their offices on the Hill, leaving think-tank positions to take jobs with lawmakers’ offices, and vice versa.
Federal workers are wondering about new policies that may impact how much flexibility they have, and contractors wonder if they will continue to have work once their contract expires. A new government-efficiency commission under Trump has pledged “mass reductions” in agencies and staffing, leaving many on edge.
Pastors in DC are used to the pressures and prayer requests that come with government transitions every two or four years. Batterson at NCC has led his flock through eight presidential inaugurations, offering spiritual counsel through the transitions, cuts, and political spats that accompany each new administration.
In a congregation where worship gatherings and small groups intentionally span political parties, Batterson prays for the “Esthers and Nehemiahs, Daniel and Deborahs, who feel called to public service,” a reference to biblical figures who served in or close to the halls of power. He likened the role of the church to “Aaron and Hur, who held up the arms of Moses; we want to do the same for political leaders.”
Katelyn Walls Shelton knows firsthand the tension that comes with watching election returns come in and knowing the results would determine whether she’d have a job. Though the older leaders of political offices and think tanks are typically the ones in the spotlight, legions of 20- and 30-somethings like Shelton are directly affected by who leads Congress and the White House.
Shelton worked in the House for a short stint, and her husband, John, worked in the House and Senate, where shifts in congressional majorities affected staffing levels, even if the members they worked for kept their seats.
She first came to DC on a field trip with other wide-eyed eighth graders from Tennessee, and the allure of politics led her to settle in the area in 2018. She’s since worked on Capitol Hill, for the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) and under the Health and Human Services Department—first in the faith department then on issues affecting women’s health care.
“It really does feel like your life. Your day to day depends on who the next president is going to be or who is in power, who has the majority in the House or the Senate,” she said.
The DC churn can also spur a sense of discouragement from those in the political minority or those working in a divided government.
“There was a lot of talk among our friends like, ‘Hey, if President Trump loses this election, we’re going to go home. Like, we’ll be in our 30s before we have a Republican trifecta. What’s the point of ten years being around here and never working in the trifecta?’” said Jonah Wendt, a former staffer for Texas GOP representative Chip Roy and a current policy advisor for former vice president Mike Pence.
Now, he finds the mood in Republican circles to be much more jubilant. He and his wife welcomed a baby daughter in October. When November’s election returns came in, one of his friends told him, “That’s so great—she shows up right before we enter America’s golden age.”
Wendt takes a more pragmatic outlook. He anticipates that after a flurry of executive orders, a couple big messaging bills, and one big reconciliation bill, it’ll be back to a “slow slog” for legislation under the thin majority in the House.
Wendt has found himself staying grounded with the help of his Lutheran church community, where leaders pray for both Democratic and Republican leaders by name.
When Michael Sobolik came to DC a decade ago, he realized it was much harder to win policy victories. He was frustrated by the ignorance, self-interest, and roadblocks that got in the way and found himself searching the Scriptures to see what God had to say about governance.
“In DC, where the whole city revolves around power and influence and access in one way or another, I have found over time, I’ve been so amazed at how explicitly the Bible speaks to people who are ministering in those spaces,” said Sobolik, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute.
The stories about Esther and Daniel took on new meaning. “You’re dealing with elite politics; you’re dealing more broadly with God’s plan of redemption for all of humanity and his people.”
Brent Leatherwood, president of the ERLC, has also been in prayer for the outgoing and incoming administrations, including through his church’s 40 days of prayer for America’s leaders.
Leatherwood, who lives in Tennessee and spends plenty of time in DC seeking to advance the policy priorities of Southern Baptists, described himself as “bullish” about making progress during the next four years.
“The reality is we are called to pray for those in authority, regardless of what party,” he said. “I think that’s been a consistent part of my life, particularly just in this role, because these are men and women that I interact with.”
In early conversations with Trump’s transition team, he’s been urging the administration to focus on filling faith offices across the federal government. The ERLC also just finalized its 2025 policy priorities, which they are going to take to every member of Congress as well as administration officials.
“We’re trying to view the priorities of the administration and see, Are there places where we can be a helpful voice? Are there places where we need to call attention to some things? Are there places where we’re going to have to be a voice that fully articulates what Scripture tells us and what our convention prioritizes?”
He added, “That’s the same posture that we took four years ago with the incoming Biden administration, and four years before that with the first Trump administration.”
Heather Rice-Minus knows well the necessity of working tirelessly for her particular cause, regardless of who occupies the White House.
Rice-Minus grew up just outside the city in Northern Virginia and has lived in DC proper for a decade with her husband and children. She is president of Prison Fellowship, a Christian nonprofit that advocates for prisoners, their families, and justice reform. Her family lives in Congress Heights, less than a ten-minute drive from the Capitol.
“The Lord has brought incredible opportunity to Prison Fellowship to work with each administration that has come,” she said. Amid increasing polarization, she said she’s grateful criminal justice has still been able to garner bipartisan support.
“We’ve been able to find common ground on justice and in many cases, you know, make some pretty significant reforms that I’m very proud of.”
The last time Donald Trump was in office, he signed the First Step Act into law in 2018. But what would eventually become the First Step Act had been in the making for years prior and went through several different iterations before it was passed.
She remembers one conversation with her sister where she told her it often takes years for legislation to pass. Her sister responded, “Wow, that’s so depressing.”
Rice-Minus doesn’t see those intervening years as a waste. “That is where you forge friendships. That is where you come up with creative ideas of, ‘How do we get people to care about this?’ That’s where you learn what the windows of opportunity are to push something through.”
That interim is also when Rice-Minus spends a lot of time in prayer.
Prison Fellowship has teams of Christians, often volunteers, who pray together. These volunteers and Prison Fellowship staff also meet with lawmakers to talk about their cause. Those groups include formerly incarcerated individuals as well.
“I can’t even tell you how meaningful it was for them,” Rice-Minus said, “for them to walk and sit down at someone’s Senate table and share their story and share about why they care about the oversight and dignity of people behind bars.”
Seeing real-life impacts also keeps her going. Since then, Rice-Minus has met individuals who have come home from prison and been restored to their families and communities as a result of that legislation. Her church, NCC, has sponsored children of incarcerated parents through Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree program, and she was able to deliver Christmas presents to families in Ward Eight last year.
Many Christians working in DC say the partnership, guidance, and counsel from their church communities makes it possible for them to endure the stresses that come with their jobs.
Sobolik appreciated the robust theology of work—that “all work is part of redemption”—that gets taught at his Anglican parish in Capitol Hill, Church of the Resurrection.
Among his circle of family and friends, the upcoming inauguration has brought a spectrum of reactions to the surface: “Some are really happy. Some of their careers have really changed for the better. And then we have other close friends who are anxious, uncertain about what’s going to come, and their careers are suffering,” he said.
Sobolik seeks to temper both his hopes and fears during elections. He looks for areas of overlap where he can cooperate with those in power. And he tries to get people together to find common ground.
His work focuses on US-China relations and national security, so while the Biden administration was in power, he planned dinners focused on China policy with both Democratic and Republican attendees. They were off-the-record gatherings. “It wasn’t about shouting anyone down or saying, ‘I’m right; you’re wrong.’ It was talking through problems and trying to find solutions.”
“With the incoming administration, there’s a lot I’m probably going to agree with them on China. There’s a few things I’m probably going to disagree with them on as well. It requires a lot of prudence.”
Shelton also said Christians in DC get used to taking the long view as they prioritize their vocations. “A lot of Christians are involved in politics because they have a particular cause in mind,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean the work for your particular cause stops if your party is not in power.”
