Missionaries

Michelle &Christopher Hays

Michelle &Christopher Hays

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I (Michelle) am a missionary serving with a partner organization named Welcome House Raleigh in Raleigh, North Carolina. I am married to Christopher, and we have three children, Judah, Asher and Zoe.

Our vision at Welcome House Raleigh is to see all of our newly arrived refugee and asylum-seeker neighbors thrive in their new city. We provide support for vulnerable international newcomers through temporary housing, ESL classes, furniture and clothing donation, and friendship.

Before they arrive, these people are strangers to us.  A name on the page that we struggle to pronounce with a backstory that we struggle to even begin to imagine. Then they arrive at the front door of Welcome House Raleigh, weary with jetlag, and we see them face to face for the first time. Inspired by the words of Jesus in Matthew 25:35-40, we welcome them as our guests. We offer a safe place to stay and a culturally appropriate hot meal. Over the course of outings, English classes, and shared laughter and tears, they become our new friends.

Later, when they find their own permanent housing in Raleigh, they often invite us to their own front doors. There we are welcomed inside as their guests, and we receive their hospitality. We step across their doorway into a tiny piece of their homeland here in Raleigh, where English is not the first language, where we perhaps eat sitting in a circle on the living room rug instead of at a kitchen table, and food that might not be familiar to us is shared generously.

Our new friends are people who have suffered much, lost much, and sometimes waited years in desperate situations to finally find a place of safety in Raleigh. At Welcome House Raleigh, we express God’s healing love to them in tangible ways and invite them into a beloved community. Strangers become guests, guests become friends, and in some cases, even family.

In the ministry of Welcome House Raleigh, becoming family and creating a sense of being “home” for our vulnerable refugee and asylum-seeking neighbors gives us a tiny taste of what heaven will be like. In heaven we will be together, and we will be truly “home ,” a great multitude that no one can count from every nation, tribe, people, and language, united in the presence of Jesus.

Prayer Requests:

  • For God to offer restoration and hope to refugees and asylum seekers in Raleigh.
  • For our new friends to be able to identify God’s presence and faithfulness in their stories.
  • For true community to be built in Raleigh among welcomers and those being welcomed.
  • For God to raise up leaders among our past guests to join us in this ministry.

Stay in Touch:
Email1Michelle.lee.hays@gmail.com

WebPersonal Site: Hays Family Missions
WebMinistry Site: Welcome House Raleigh