Transform your approach to refugee ministry through a powerful paradigm shift that leads to sustainability, mutual relationships, and lasting impact.

The Faithful Innkeeper offers Christians serving displaced people a revolutionary perspective on serving refugee neighbors. Rather than viewing ourselves as the "Good Samaritan" hero of Jesus' famous parable, seasoned ministry practitioner Rachel Uthmann invites readers to embrace the role of the faithful innkeeper—the one who provides essential care and hospitality within human limitations in partnership with Jesus, our true Good Samaritan.

This compassionate guide addresses the real challenges faced by those committed to refugee ministry: How do we serve sustainably without burning out? How do we build genuine, mutual relationships? How do we process the grief and trauma we encounter while maintaining hope and effectiveness?

Drawing from biblical wisdom and practical experience, Uthmann demonstrates how remembering God as the initiator and source of our work frees us from despair in the face of overwhelming need. From this life-giving posture of partnership with Christ, we can fulfill our part in our neighbor's healing journey without burning out.

What you'll find in The Faithful Innkeeper:



- Fresh exploration of the Good Samaritan parable, highlighting Jesus as the true Good Samaritan and our role as the innkeeper

- Crucial insights to help those in ministry among displaced people become better informed about the complex realities of the refugee experience

- A sustainable ministry model for long-term, life-giving service in mutually transformative relationships

- The role of the church in building relationships with refugees



Life-giving ministry emerges when we respond faithfully to God's invitation to partnership while leaving ultimate outcomes to his care. This book is great for volunteers, church leaders, missionaries, and anyone involved in immigrant or refugee services. With The Faithful Innkeeper, discover how walking alongside refugee neighbors can be one of life's greatest gifts.



Carmen Joy Imes (PhD, Wheaton) is associate professor of Old Testament at Biola University. She is the author of Bearing God's Name: Why Sinai Still Matters, Being God's Image: Why Creation Still Matters, and Becoming God's Family: Why the Church Still Matters.



Rachel Uthmann is director of training at the International Association for Refugees, where she equips Christians for faithful, sustainable, and fruitful service among people forcibly displaced from their homes by violence or persecution. She is a master facilitator with the Healing the Wounds of Trauma program. She previously served in ministry in the United Kingdom, Italy, and Greece. She lives in Minneapolis with her husband, Tim, and their family.



Foreword by Carmen Joy Imes



Introduction: Becoming an Innkeeper

Part 1: A Knock at the Door



1. The Innkeeper's Origin Story



2. Finding the First-Aid Kit



3. Is That You, Jesus?



4. Changed by Love

Part 2: Hospitality That Heals



5. Community at the Core



6. Finding Hope on the Refugee Highway



7. Setting the Table for Healing



8. More than People in Need

Conclusion: The Global Society of Innkeepers



Acknowledgments



Appendix: Humanitarian Space: Your Inn Is Part of a Village



Recommended Resources



Notes



"As an immigrant myself, I understand what it means to choose a new home, but this book deeply moved me as it highlights that many refugees have no choice at all. I love the innkeeper message—such a beautiful reminder of our role in God's plan: We are called to show hospitality and care. With compassion and wisdom, the book challenges us to be faithful innkeepers, offering rest to those who have no choice. I've partnered with Rachel Uthmann for five years, and she brings vision, heart, compassion, and zeal."



"Writing out of years of practitioner experience, Rachel Uthmann brims with hope about the specific gift Christians can offer to forcibly displaced people: embodied, real, healing community. In a world where the scale of forcible displacement makes us feel overwhelmed, Uthmann compellingly articulates how genuine relational accompaniment brings safety, stability, and recovery to those who have been traumatized. By reimagining ourselves as innkeepers rather than the Good Samaritan, we give up the need to control and become participants in the work of God's healing."



"Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan makes it quite clear that the neighbors whom we're called to love must include vulnerable strangers of a different ethnicity or religious tradition, which is precisely the example that Jesus offered us. But while we're all called to play the Good Samaritan at times, Rachel Uthmann wisely suggests that we may more often be invited to emulate the story's innkeeper. The Faithful Innkeeper is a practical guide for those who want to welcome refugees and other immigrants sustainably for the long haul."



"In The Faithful Innkeeper, Rachel Uthmann weaves together story and hard-earned experience to deliver a compassionate, rooted, life-giving guide for anyone who journeys with refugees. Whether you are burned out from helping or not sure you're doing enough, Uthmann's insights will nudge you—and your relationships with people experiencing displacement—toward greater health and mutual thriving."



"Rachel Uthmann writes in a way that empowers and cheers on ordinary Christians to keep on sharing God's extraordinary kindness in sustainable ways. How freeing to sit in the identity of the recovering traveler now caring for others on the road, rather than feel responsible for the rescue of others when only God can do that! Her hard-won wisdom overflows from every page."



"Rachel Uthmann writes from a place of personal experience, earned wisdom, and compelling humility. This book is a natural extension of her years spent encouraging and equipping others to serve refugees in ways that embody the love of Christ and the fullness of the gospel. It is a book every refugee ministry worker should begin with—and return to again and again."



"This book is a restorative retreat. Here is respite for tired innkeepers on the refugee highway—those who have been faithfully extending love and hospitality to people on the move. God is the Good Samaritan, and we are joining God's redeeming work, Rachel Uthmann tells us. As Uthmann shares with us her personal experience of the strengths and capacity of refugees, we are reminded that we are not isolated innkeepers but a part of a community of welcome."