“God Often Uses Migration to Spread the Message”

Refugee coordinator shares insights, ideas on how to better reach migrant populations.

April 23, 2025 | Connecticut, United States | Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review

“God often uses migration to spread the message,” said Terri Saelee, North American Division Refugee and Immigrant Ministries coordinator, on March 30. Saelee’s words were part of a presentation entitled “Refugees and the New Pentecost,” given during the 2025 Atlantic Union Conference (AUC) SEEDS Festival of the Laity conference in Stamford, Connecticut, United States.

Saelee explained that even though “you won’t find the word ‘refugee’ in the Bible . . . , most of the Bible is about how God mentored, loved, used, and helped a group of refugees,” starting with Abraham. “When people come to our country, there’s a tendency . . . to push back on any new immigrant.

Just a Distraction?

Even though Saelee grew up on a Nebraska farm in the U.S. that had been part of her family for generations, she said that God led her to serve refugees in Thailand. It was a life-changing experience, she shared. There she was not only able to connect with refugees but also to see how it was not uncommon for locals to look down on newcomers, even though they contributed to their economy. “I think it’s human nature,” she said. “When we think of refugees overseas, it happens that if we can choose whom and when to help, we feel good about it. But when we come across refugees or asylum seekers and they don’t fit into our plan, it’s harder to have a proper attitude.”

Saelee said that against that background, she has come to appreciate the Bible story of the good Samaritan more. “I think that nowadays most would praise the priest and the Levite because they didn’t get distracted; they kept on track with their goals for the day. But the Samaritan came by and saw an opportunity in the distraction.” In that sense, she emphasized, “one key to be someone God can use to reach refugees and immigrants is to be prepared to see opportunities in distractions from our schedule.”

God’s Overall Strategy and Ours

God’s overall strategy is the plan of salvation, Saelee explained. In that context we are God’s hands to spread the message to every people group, which includes many refugee populations. “Nothing is more fulfilling than being at the center of God’s will, fulfilling your purpose within the plan of salvation,” she said. And it is what Saelee said she experienced when God connected to other people with a heart for reaching refugee populations across the U.S. Her ministry leading an outreach team to refugees from Hmong, Ming, and other Asian people or language groups in Sacramento, California, has resulted in new Adventist churches and church plants. She eventually married Ko Saelee, an Adventist pastor from the Hmong group, originally from Thailand. Together they are ministering to the Hmong who were relocated to Hickory, North Carolina.

Empowering Local Leaders to Reach Out

Saelee has said more than once that a key goal of ministering to other cultures should be “to find the people that God has called and empower them to reach their own people.” It is the reason refugee ministries works to organize church plants, mentor their leaders, and then connect them to a local conference.

As a result of this approach, a recent Adventist Mission video highlighted how during the past few years the number of language groups reached has doubled, and new refugee-based congregations have increased from 57 to 179. “Membership quadrupled, and both annual baptisms and tithes grew eightfold,” the mission video reported. Ko Saelee has planted three Adventist churches among the Hmong so far, and by late 2024 was facilitating the planting of a fourth.

Challenges and Tips to Reach Refugees

Mission to people groups among the refugees faces significant challenges, Terri Saelee acknowledged. In the Adventist Mission video, Ko Saelee explained some of the challenges he himself experienced when trying to reach out to the Hmong. “When we become Christians, other people disfellowship you; you are an outcast,” he explained. “So unless we build a support system, it’s a miracle for someone to live their culture, with their family.”

In her March 30 presentation Terri Saelee shared some things she has learned along the way. “I learned from my husband how important it is when working with refugees to work with the leaders of the community,” she said. “You can make a big mistake, spending a lot of energy trying to convert someone who is not a leader, when you start working with a new group.” She explained, “It doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t care about everyone, but you need to be strategic.”

Ko Saelee agreed. “When I go to a meeting of people in my culture, I try first of all to find out who is the leader. If you respect and befriend the leader, everyone is OK,” he said. “In Western culture, people who become church leaders in a conference, for instance, are the ones with the highest education or the greatest soul winners. In some foreign regions the leader is sometimes the one who can speak English,” he explained. “But in some cultures, such a decision can jeopardize mission, because people don’t respect that person as a leader.”

Reaching Everyone

Terri Saelee also emphasized that the Bible calls us to reach “every nation, tribe, tongue, and people” (Rev. 14:6). According to the data she collected, the Adventist Church is present in 215 out of 236 nations and areas recognized by the United Nations.

As regards tribes (or “kindred”), Saelee said she hasn’t found relevant data in English. “In Western culture, we don’t even know what that is,” she acknowledged. “But in many cultures, kindred or family of origin is extremely important. . . . So it seems interesting to me that God put that word in the core of our mission statement as Adventists.” Accordingly, she called church planters to know and respect this element, which could make or break a new congregation. “The choice of leaders is very important, and it’s very important that we don’t choose leaders for people from outside the culture,” she said.

And what about “tongues”? Depending on how you count, Saelee reported, there are about 7,000 unreached language groups in the world. “We don’t often give much thought to that,” she said. Reaching everyone means making efforts to share the gospel with every people group, she said. And both from a one-to-one interaction and from a leadership strategic point, the key, she emphasized, is to “connect with respect.”

Saelee candidly shared that in her early experience, almost subconsciously she would think of some of her beginner’s language students as not as smart as others, just because she couldn’t quite grasp their culture and language. But when she got to know them better, things changed. “I found out that they were a teacher, a government worker, and several very successful businesspeople.” She realized that in terms of intelligence and accomplishments, they were well ahead other more advanced language students. “Some of these people knew several languages. So it’s essential that we connect with respect” in order to reach them.