Volunteer Coordinator — Africa

Missionary Erin Mackenzie, Regional Volunteer Coordinator for our work in Latin America and the Caribbean, providing context for a short-term team about our church planting efforts and making connections in the community (with a local baseball team).

Do you enjoy showing hospitality? Does connecting with new people energize you? Do you want your work to make a difference? Volunteer Coordinators play a key role in our regional mission team. They help connect people and congregations in the LCMS with our work around the world by planning and hosting short-term mission trips for individuals and teams. These mission trips directly contribute to our efforts to spread the Gospel, plant Lutheran churches, and show mercy around the world.

Volunteer Coordinators are leaders of people and projects. Their work creates sustainability by strengthening partnerships and helping to spot new missionaries from among the volunteers and short-term mission trips. They are flexible problem solvers, bringing order and structure to chaos. They make plans months in advance and are also able to adapt on the fly. They are gracious hosts.

Are you bored by monotony at work? Which is better: the big picture or the details? Why not both? If you also love to travel, this type of missionary service might be a good fit for you.

LCMS International Mission is currently seeking to add a volunteer coordinator to our regional team in Africa. Jesus said in Matt 9: 37-38, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Is the Lord of the harvest calling you? Reach out to start the conversation today.

Background & Characteristics of a Volunteer Coordinator
✚Active LCMS member
✚ Strong sense of Lutheran identity
✚ Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience
✚ Experience in leading teams and managing volunteers
✚ Speaks a foreign language, or willingness to learn
✚ Friendly
✚ Team-oriented
✚ Energetic
✚ Galvanizer

Learn More

LCMS International Mission  Learn more about the scope of the international mission work of The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod.

Missionary Job Posting  View the general missionary job description on the LCMS careers website.

Stories about Volunteer Coordinators

The Coffee Hour — Serving as a Volunteer Coordinator on the Mission Field  What does a volunteer coordinator do on the mission field, and how can you serve in a role like this? Erin Mackenzie — Volunteer Coordinator for the Latin America and Caribbean Region with the LCMS Office of International Mission — shares her story.

The Coffee Hour — Short Term Mission Opportunity: South Africa!– Missionary Shara Osiro joins Andy and Sarah to discuss Shara’s work managing and supporting ministries across the region, her experience as a short-term volunteer prior to serving full-time, and what it was like for her to serve with a Bible Camp alongside our partners in the Lutheran Church in Southern Africa last year.

The Coffee Hour — CTSFW Seminarians Serve in the Dominican Republic  What is a mission education team, and what is its purpose? Hear more about what a volunteer coordinator does as members of a seminary mission education team talk with the volunteer coordinator about their experience.