Sarah Miller, founder of Jonathan House, tells the behind-the-scenes wonders of how Jonathan House went from thought to action. Miller calls the idea the ‘pie in the sky,’ a little out of reach, but attainable with faith and prayer.
by Tatiana Lee, Guest Author
Sarah Miller sat on a plane the last week of July 2017, heading from Minneapolis, MN to Texas for a work conference. She kept praying, asking God if it was time to look for a house.
Not a house for herself. Miller and her team had raised $20,000 of their $45,000 goal to open Jonathan House, the first Twin Cities metro-area housing program designed specifically for asylum seekers. The team was continuously receiving inquiries about vacancies from social workers, immigration lawyers, or asylum seekers themselves. There was only one problem: the house didn’t exist yet.
During her time in Texas, Miller met up with Ashley Freeman, the founder of the Dallas Asylum Seeker Housing (DASH) Network, to discuss the project and funds for Jonathan House. DASH’s founder asked Miller how much money they had received toward the project launch.
“$20,000,” responded Miller.
Freeman was shocked. “We only had $1,000 to get started! What are you waiting for?”
Miller came home to Minnesota after the conference. A day later, she learned of an additional unexpected $10,000 donation toward Jonathan House. This donation was the green light that let Miller know: it was time.
The Call
Sarah Miller, born in Jamesport, Missouri, grew up constantly moving. After her freshman year in high school she moved from Michigan to Indiana, then two more moves within Indiana during her high school years. The constant moving during high school became a challenge; every year, a new school, new friends. In the midst of this overlapping pace of change, Miller kept another constant close to her heart: her faith in God. She grew up going to church with her parents, took part in youth group and heard constant talk of mission work.
“Church was really pivotal in my faith,” said Miller, who accepted Christ into her heart at age 16.
Her first mission trip was to Haiti when she was 18. The vibrant faith she saw in the Haitian believers stood out to Miller. The believers had few possessions but held so much joy. It impacted Miller to see that ‘stuff’ does not make faith.
In her mid-20’s, Miller went to Germany with a team of 17 people. After Miller came back from Germany, she was wide open to the idea of missions. A group of her friends were discussing a mission trip to Austria they were about to go on with an organization called International Teams. Someone mentioned their group would be working with refugees. Miller had never heard about the issue of forced displacement in the world. When her friends described the plight of refugees, a heaviness weighed in her heart.
“No audible voice,” said Miller. “Just this heaviness that came over my spirit about refugees.”
Definitions of Forced Migration
| Forced migration | A broad term used to describe those who have fled their homes unwillingly due to conflict, persecution, or human rights violations. Those categorized in this term include internally displaced people, asylum seekers and refugees, all of whom have been forced to migrate. |
| Refugee resettlement | The selection by the United Nation High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) of the most vulnerable refugees who cannot live safely in their birth country nor in neighboring countries for relocation from a refugee camp to permanently resettle in a third safe country. |
| Resettled refugee | A refugee who is transferred from the country they sought protection in to a third state that has agreed to give them permanent residence status. This process is overseen by the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR), in collaboration with the countries where the refugees are resettled. |
| Asylum seeker | An individual who is seeking permanent refuge in a foreign country, but whose claim for asylum has not yet been evaluated. If the individual’s asylum case is approved, they will receive a refugee status. |
At this time, it was the late 1980s. Miller had made a three-year commitment to serve as the VBS director at Community Gospel Church in Bremen, Indiana. But during her time at the church, the heaviness in her heart never left her. Finally, in the 1990s, Miller applied to International Teams and within a year found herself in Germany working with asylum seekers.
When an individual flees the danger of war or persecution in her country, she may seek haven and permanent residency in a foreign country; this person is known as an asylum seeker. The asylum seeker lives in the country where she is looking for refuge while she goes through the legal process to receive refugee status.
Miller was in Germany for nine years and met asylum-seeking refugees from all over the world. “Depending on what was happening in the world, then you would see a wave of people from those countries,” said Miller.
Finally, it came to a point where it seemed that God was closing the door on Miller’s time overseas. In April of 2001, she came back to the United States, waiting to see what God had next. Eventually, she moved to Minnesota to work with the International Teams’ Refugee Ministry Director.
In Minnesota she connected with resettled refugees through ESL and literacy training. In the early 2000s more individuals joined International Teams, and they partnered with Arrive Ministries in helping resettle Bhutanese refugees.
According to the United Nations, resettlement is the transfer of the most vulnerable refugees from a hosting country to another State, upon agreement, for permanent resettlement. Compared to asylum seekers, the resettled refugee has been given a stronghold, because when they arrive in the country of permanent resettlement, like the United States, they have the assurance of security.
But what about the asylum seeker that has not yet been granted refuge, Miller wondered. What was their journey like when they came to the United States? She decided to investigate.
Read the rest of the story here!
A Hopeful Haven: Part 2
A Hopeful Haven: Part 3