Mission & Values

Mission

The Lutheran Volunteer Corps is a community of faith uniting people to work for peace with justice.

Values

As the Lutheran Volunteer Corps, our values are:

  • Simple and sustainable living honors the abundant resources that God provides. These resources must be shared equitably so all can thrive.
  • Living in intentional communities creates a supportive space to engage in social justice and live sustainably while exploring vocation and meaning.
  • Exploring the diversity of spirituality within a community promotes an understanding of the spectrum of beliefs and values.
  • Our  journey to inclusive community must confront racism and oppression through intentional —  and often uncomfortable — personal and institutional transformation.
  • Social justice compels us to strive for a peaceful world where basic human rights are met with dignity.

Mission and Values in Action

LVC places recent college graduates (“Volunteers”) in full-time service positions at social-justice organizations across the United States in Baltimore, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Washington, D.C., and Wilmington, DE — for one or two years. Service-year Volunteers are encouraged to explore LVC’s core principles: living simply and sustainably in intentional community, while serving the cause of peace with justice. LVC places emphasis on the injustice of racism, oppression, and privilege in its leadership development curriculum. Volunteers develop broad leadership skills while being placed with food justice, legal aid, environment, housing, immigration, education, health care, and other social justice missions. 

  • Journey to Inclusive Community (JIC) is us taking action to invite, include, and empower a broad representation of people in all aspects of our work and program.
  • Anti-Racism/Oppression towards Intercultural Competence Work is integral to the learning and leadership development experience for the service year, as well as for staff, board, and others who work on behalf of LVC.  LVC believes we must confront racism and oppression through intentional and often uncomfortable personal and institutional transformation.
  • Reconciling in Christ: As a Reconciling in Christ organization, LVC welcomes and encourages the full participation of people of all sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender expressions.
  • Many Faith Traditions: LVC welcomes and celebrates the participation of persons of all faith traditions. LVC is the most religiously diverse faith-based volunteer program in the US. Yearly, about 1/3 of LVC Volunteers are ELCA Lutheran, 1/3 are from other Christian denominations, and the last third come from a variety of other religious and spiritual traditions, including atheism and agnosticism.