How the Hormuz Crisis and USAID Cuts Are Straining Christian Ministries

From jungle airstrips in Papua New Guinea to refugee camps in Sudan, Christian organizations are fighting a two-front battle — and the world's most vulnerable are caught in the middle.

When Iran began severely restricting passage through the Strait of Hormuz in early March, Steve Russell noticed the impact almost immediately. As president and CEO of JAARS — Jungle Aviation and Relay Service — he oversees 48 aircraft and 75 pilots flying missionary translators into some of the most remote rainforests on earth. Suddenly, what had been a manageable operational budget was being stretched in ways he hadn't seen in years.

Aviation fuel costs jumped roughly 25 percent almost overnight. On a turboprop aircraft, that translates to an extra $150 per flight hour. "You budget for 2.5 or 3 percent for inflation maybe in a year," Russell said, "but not 25 percent. That's huge."

JAARS isn't alone. Christianity Today spoke with multiple Christian aviation and relief organizations all sounding the same alarm: the Hormuz crisis, layered on top of the sweeping elimination of USAID funding earlier this year, is creating a perfect storm for global humanitarian work. The people who will feel it most acutely are the ones who can least afford to.

What's Happening in the Strait

The Strait of Hormuz is one of the most strategically vital waterways on the planet. Under normal conditions, roughly a fifth of the world's oil supply — drawn from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq — passes through it daily. When the US-Israeli military operation against Iran began in late February, Iran responded by attacking oil tankers, laying mines, and charging tolls as high as $2 million for safe passage. Hundreds of ships backed up in the waterway, including fuel tankers and vessels carrying liquefied natural gas.

Even with a brief ceasefire declared in early April, the International Air Transport Association has warned that it could take months for global jet fuel supplies to stabilize — regardless of how quickly the strait reopens — due to widespread disruptions to oil refineries.

For mission organizations already operating on lean budgets, that timeline is deeply concerning.

Medicines Racing Against the Clock

Chris Palombo, CEO of MAP International — a Christian organization delivering medicine and medical supplies to people in 100 countries — describes a situation that is urgent in ways most people don't see coming. Fuel prices for his organization have climbed between 25 and 35 percent. Shipping quotes that were once guaranteed for 30 days are now only locked in for five. And shipments that once moved reliably are now delayed by one to three months.

For donated medicine, those delays can be devastating. Much of what MAP receives comes with limited shelf lives or requires refrigeration. "We are constantly fighting the clock," Palombo said. "If you lose a couple of months going from a port to a warehouse to a clinic to a mass unit clinic at the far edges of some country, nine months of usable life just became six or five."

What makes MAP's situation especially difficult is that this crisis didn't arrive in a vacuum. The organization had already been absorbing the fallout from USAID cuts, delivering over $1 billion in medical supplies last year against an $860 million budget. Generous donors stepped in to bridge the gap — but now those same donors are being asked to stretch further still, at the precise moment when global need is surging. "The poor suffer disproportionately," Palombo said. He is praying for a swift resolution.

From Jungle Airstrips to African Villages

Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) — which operates a fleet of 135 aircraft serving 1,500 churches, nonprofits, and humanitarian organizations across 37 countries — has reported a staggering 67 percent increase in jet fuel costs in Indonesia since April 1, where it carries out its largest number of flight operations. In Africa, costs have climbed 40 to 43 percent.

For now, MAF is managing. But Brock Larson, the organization's vice president of global operations, acknowledged that if the conflict drags on another three to six months, a donor appeal will likely be necessary. The margin is shrinking.

Meanwhile, World Relief's regional director for international programs, Adula Gemta, is watching the situation closely. His organization focuses heavily on Africa, a region deeply dependent on Middle Eastern supply routes. Some areas of Sudan have already seen fuel costs spike 60 percent. Since diesel generators power the borehole drills that pump water in many parts of the country — and since Sudan is currently in its hot season — rising fuel prices translate directly into rising water prices for some of the world's most vulnerable families.

When Farmers Can't Plant and Parents Can't Feed Their Children

The ripple effects extend well beyond fuel prices. Compassion International's principal humanitarian advisor, Matt Ellingson, pointed to a dynamic that will take months to fully materialize but is already being set in motion: delayed fertilizer shipments.

Each planting season requires a specific type of fertilizer delivered at the right time. If shipments arrive late, farmers can't use them — and harvests six months from now will reflect that gap. Hannah Chargin, World Vision's director of advocacy, estimates that reduced fertilizer application over the coming weeks could trigger harvest yield declines of 5 to 15 percent across parts of sub-Saharan Africa and South and Southeast Asia, driving sustained food price increases well into next year.

For day laborers in fuel-dependent economies — the Philippines, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka — the hardship is already arriving. "Fuel rations mean expensive fuel at the pump," Ellingson said, "but it actually means that day laborers will have less opportunity to work, and they will have to spend more money for their basic needs." The trickle-down arrives first in the lunchboxes of children.

Ellingson, a father himself, described the impossible calculations that parents in these regions may soon face: whether to consume limited food stores now or hold back, gambling on a future resolution that may not come. "I'm a dad, and it always rips me apart," he said.

The USAID Gap Makes Everything Worse

It is impossible to understand the full weight of this crisis without reckoning with what was already lost earlier this year. When the Trump administration dismantled USAID, it didn't simply eliminate a government agency — it eliminated billions of dollars in funding that faith-based and humanitarian organizations had built entire programs around. Food security pipelines, HIV treatment programs, maternal health clinics, and clean water projects across Africa, Latin America, and Asia were abruptly cut off.

Christian organizations like MAP, World Relief, and World Vision had already begun absorbing increased need in the wake of those cuts, stretching staff and donor funds to cover gaps the federal government had abandoned. Now the Hormuz crisis arrives on top of that depleted foundation — raising costs, slowing shipments, and multiplying the needs of already-strained communities, all at once.

The organizations doing this work are not complaining. They are adapting, praying, and pressing forward. But the math is becoming harder, and the people bearing the consequences of that math are the hungriest, the sickest, and the most isolated people on earth.

"He Will Resource His Work Through His People"

Steve Russell of JAARS finds his footing in Acts 17:26, where Paul speaks of God setting the boundaries of nations and seasons. "These events don't escape God's notice," Russell said. "And if he wants his kingdom to advance, and he wants to use us in the ministry of reconciliation to be ambassadors for Christ, then he will resource his work through his people."

That faith is not naive. It is, in fact, a direct call to action for the global church. The question these organizations are implicitly putting to every believer who reads their stories is the same question Scripture has always asked: Will God's people be the answer to their own prayers?

How to Pray: Ask God to bring a swift resolution to the Hormuz conflict. Pray for the farmers, the day laborers, the mothers rationing food, and the children waiting for medicine. Pray for the pilots, logistics coordinators, and aid workers holding these supply chains together by faith. And pray for the church to rise to meet this moment with open hands.