MAP in Action

Since the year 2000, Mission to Amish People (MAP) has provided high-quality assistance to members of the Amish community who are trying to integrate into English communities. As we have grown, we’ve added a number of helpful services, which are available to both Amish and former Amish people. MAP is located in a 3,600 sq. ft. office building. As of this time, the ministry has a director, plus three full time and five part time hired staff members. It also has about 30 faithful volunteers help handle the total workload of the MAP programs and services. MAP ministry is not involved with any Missions Agency, but does have a 10-member board that oversees the entire ministry. The services are outlined here:

Transitional Ministry

When a person or family leaves the Amish, we immediately assist them in the following ways:

Short term housing and transportation
Applying for their birth certificates and social security numbers
Filling out work applications and finding jobs
Driving lessons and obtaining a driver’s license
Computer Classes
Assistance with GED and college education

Educational Assistance Program

Amish children are not allowed to have more than an eighth grade education. One of the first things we try to do when an Amish person leaves their culture, is help him/her get their GED. Some have gone on to college in order to further their education in either the business world, or in a greater understanding of the Bible.

The Bible Club

The Bible Club is a correspondence-through-the-mail program that helps Amish children and adults become more confident in their spiritual walk. This program reaches into 47 states as well as Canada. MAP offers 28 different Bible study courses that cover ages 5 years old through adult. Since 2001, over 74,000 Amish children and adults have enrolled in our Bible Club program.

Every year, several hundred students write to tell us that they received Jesus as Savior because of a lesson that they completed. This ministry also offers an awards program that allows the students to earn points. We keep a record of all points earned, and then send them the appropriate awards, based on the points they have earned.

The Amish Voice

For three years, volunteers helped us gather roughly 70,000 addresses of Amish families and put them in a computer database. In January of 2007, the very first copies of the Amish Voice were mailed out to 3,500 Amish households. We now send the Amish Voice into more than 17,000 households. This 16-page publication is being used as a tool to evangelize and disciple the Amish culture.

Note: This ministry is made possible because of individuals, churches, and Sunday-school classes who have adopted, and are responsible for, the cost of publishing and mailing the Amish Voice to a desired number of Amish households.

Housing

New Beginnings Homestead provides safe, structured housing for the former Amish to live while the ministry helps them adjust to the English life and culture. During their stay, the ministry will provide counseling and discipleship, as well as help them acquire Social Security numbers, driver’s licenses, GED testing, employment, and much more. Young former Amish women will train at Beyond Measure Market to learn a variety of skills, understand the retail business and provide living expenses for themselves.

Mission Projects

The ministry has participated in sending young people on short term mission’s trips, both on a national and international level. Some of the countries that we have gone into are Costa Rica, Brazil, Africa, Israel, China, Papua New Guinea, Germany, Switzerland, and Nicaragua.

Beyond Measure Market

Beyond Measure Market is a 6,000 sq. ft. bulk food store, an extended for-profit ministry of Mission to Amish People. It serves the community as well as aids single Amish women who have already left the Amish Culture and need help establishing themselves in the English society. This ministry goes hand in hand with the New Beginnings homestead. The young women that stay at the homestead train at the store, learn the retail business, make an income and help pay for their own living expenses.

Currently the Market carries a full line of deli meats and cheeses, bulk foods, ice cream cones, subs and sandwiches, salads, fresh produce, freezer items and gifts.

Church Presentations

Since 2000, the founders have traveled to more than 300 churches and special group gatherings in the US, with the intent to educate people on how they can get involved in reaching out to the Amish communities in their own backyards. They teach a two-hour seminar called, “Amish, They Are Our Friends, But Are They Fellow Believers?”

Note: If you are a pastor or church leader who is interested in knowing more about this seminar or any of the other PowerPoint presentations, please request a ministry packet.

The Mountain Movers

This ministry is made up of small pockets of individuals who attend prayer meetings in and around their Amish communities. Their goal is to pray for the salvation and spiritual growth of those who live within, and outside of, the culture. These meetings are normally held on Tuesday evenings in order to not interfere with the schedules and activities of local churches. The meetings involve Amish, former Amish, and English people.

Missionaries to the Amish

In Ezekiel 22:30 God says, I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land…

We are very intentional about asking God to send more missionaries to the Amish culture. MAP is already involved in helping men and women become established as full or part time missionaries in different parts of the US. If you, or someone you know, has a calling and burden to reach the Amish culture through evangelism and discipleship, and you would like to partner with MAP, please call us.

Meeting the Future

We at Mission to Amish People are enabled to continue our expansion of services to Amish and former Amish people through charitable donations and fund raising events. In this way, the ministries of Mission to Amish People have been enriched through love and support by many interested families and partners, helping us move ahead.

We would like to offer our friends the opportunity to contribute to one or more Legacy preservation funds which provide a perpetual source of income, security, and continued growth to Mission to Amish People. Throughout our history, we have maintained a strong commitment to excellence in every aspect of our work. To enable us to continue to build upon this commitment, we have established the Mission to Amish People Legacy of Love.

Mission to Amish People’s Legacy of Love consists of individuals who have remembered, or plan to remember, Mission to Amish People in their estate disbursement. Donors may designate funds for Mission to Amish People through personal estate planning, whether by will, insurance, special gifts, or life income arrangement. The Legacy of Love gifts will continue to serve the needs of future generations of Amish people.

Mission to Amish People is a non-profit 501c3 ministry and will send you a receipt for any donation you make.

Joe and Esther Keim
Greenwich, Ohio

Samuel and Polly Girod
Bennington, Indiana