A Short History of Micah House

The seeds of Micah House were sown a number of years ago as God began growing a passion to serve refugees in the hearts of many people here in the Hamilton area. Those seeds are now bearing fruit.

A look to the recent past shows us that early in 2005 Harold and MaryElla Minor of Peoples Church in Hamilton, and Ted Seres, from the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, met to talk about the establishment of a transitional home for refugees in the city of Hamilton. At the same time God was at work in the hearts of people on the other side of the world. Filipino nationals had a vision of coming to Hamilton with the specific purpose of working with new immigrants and refugees. Marita and Danny Alegre and Andy Busa arrived as missionaries with International Teams in October 2004. After completing a needs assessment of services for refugees in Hamilton, they came to the conclusion that the biggest gap was in the area of short-term housing and settlement.

In some unique ways, God brought these two groups together. As well, a number of other churches, particularly Philpott Memorial Church in central Hamilton, were rapidly growing in their involvement with refugees and new immigrants. Very quickly a “Task Team” was formed to bring to reality the idea of a home for refugees.

Several months were spent planning and praying. The “Task Team” chose to call this vision Micah House based on the verse Micah 6:8: “What does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”

At a fundraising banquet in September, 2005 the vision of Micah House was presented. The Task Team were thrilled to have more than 200 guests and found the generosity of those in attendance truly overwhelming.

During the months of November and December the search for Micah House, the property, began. Many houses were viewed across Hamilton and just before Christmas an offer was made to purchase a beautiful 2 1/2 storey home east of downtown Hamilton in the quiet St. Clair neighbourhood.

The Micah House Task Team took possession of the house on March 1. Weeks of renovations followed with many hard hours put in by countless volunteers. In the mean time, the Task Team became a Board of Directors with new people brought in to assume important roles. This Board of Directors represents a variety of churches and organizations throughout Hamilton. While each member brings a different set of skills and experiences, what is most important is that they share a common passion to create a welcoming and caring environment for refugees arriving in Hamilton.

In late May 2006, Micah House opened its doors to its very first guests: two families from Zimbabwe. It was a joy to welcome them to Canada and into Hamilton! The House was initially staffed by volunteers; though that changed in June 2006 when Paul Millar came on to assume the position of Director. In late 2007 Paul moved into a full-time church ministry, and Scott Jones was hired as the new Executive Director.  Scott is joined by Gillian Matheson, Settlement Worker; a former volunteer who came on staff in September 2007.

We passed our one year anniversary having welcomed 80 refugees to Hamilton. Upon our second anniversary we are privileged to have moved over the 150 mark and finding ourselves at 100% capacity most of the time. Our prayer in all of this is that as Christians from Hamilton and beyond work together to welcome refugees we will fulfill our requirements to God...to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God.