Brandy Miller teaches 7th grade life science at Westminster Christian Academy. She also leads the St. Louis Chapter of Women of Welcome, a group committed to welcoming immigrants and refugees.

It was at one of the first Women of Welcome meetings that Brandy met our volunteer Kaitlyn and learned about Abide in Love. 

“I feel really strongly about what Abide in Love is doing,” Brandy says. “It’s the best and most beautiful thing. To say ‘I’m going to abide with you. I’m going to walk with you.’” 

A transformative experience

Brandy’s work with immigrants and refugees began a number of years ago in Memphis, where she and her husband Matt began working with World Relief, a global Christian humanitarian organization. It was through their work with World Relief that Brandy and her husband decided to invite a family of newly arrived Afghan refugees to come live with them.

Brandy describes this experience as transformative.

The young mom spoke almost no English and had two small children. Her husband worked for the U.S. Military and was present when the Taliban entered the embassy. They escaped to the airport where he was beaten and everything they had was taken.

Brandy tearfully recalls how people in their church and their neighborhood came to care deeply for this Muslim family, with one of the women in her church going so far as to purchase an American Girl doll for the toddler and sewing a hijab for the doll to wear. 

She describes how hospitable the refugee family was, at one point cooking a meal for their church staff as a thank you. How the husband, with tears in his eyes, thanked her and said, “you’re family now.” She remembers some Saturday evenings when her own husband would be preparing for his sermon the next day – a group of Afghan refugee friends would show up sometimes as late as nine o’ clock in the evening for tea.

Brandy recalls with fondness many evenings where her own children would stay up well past their bedtime, playing with several Afghan children. 

When her family moved to Missouri in 2023 so Matt could become the pastor at Greentree Community Church in Kirkwood, they were delighted to learn that the church was already deeply involved with Oasis International, a local organization that helps resettle refugees in the St. Louis area.

Loving our neighbors

Brandy serves on Abide in Love STL’s Mom and Baby Team. After she reached out to her Women of Welcome group to help three pregnant women whose husbands were detained, she received so many baby items she had to reach out to other churches about storage.

While school was out for the summer, Brandy delivered a lot of food and baby items which allowed her to get to know a number of the families we serve. She volunteers alongside her own family at our monthly food outreaches. She also serves on the Community Outreach team, reaching out to local pastors and faith leaders with Abide’s message, and she recently became a Family Advocate so she can walk alongside immigrant families experiencing detention and deportation.

Combatting a narrative

Brandy says what has surprised her the most about this cultural moment is the current administration’s ability to change the narrative and “that such cruelty towards our neighbors is now justified.”

Brandy says the biggest challenge is navigating how to have conversations that don’t create defensiveness, but rather invite women to consider what it means to be faithful.

Brandy, who holds a Masters in Divinity from Princeton Seminary, has a message for faith leaders who are choosing silence in this moment: “This isn’t a matter of being political. This is a matter of loving our neighbors as ourselves.”

“We’re so much alike. They want the same things that we do. They want their kids to be safe and happy. They want what every good parent wants.”