It is never too late to live simply
Lutheran Volunteer Corps offers program option for older adults
Laurie Beckman Yetzer (right), Jubilee project director, explains the Lutheran Volunteer Corps program to Kent Goodyear, Salim Kaderbhai, and Kelly Schumacher. Metro Lutheran photo: Bob Hulteen
For more than 30 years, the Lutheran Volunteer Corps (LVC) has brought together people interested in combining their faith with their lifestyle. LVC has emphasized living more simply, working for social justice, and creating community. In those three decades, the program has spread from one inner city Washington, D.C., congregation to about 140 volunteers in 13 cities.
This fall will lead to another expansion for LVC. But this time, it is a new type of program — still committed to the same tenets of simple living, social justice, and community. But, while the current program normally attracts recent college graduates, the new program, the Jubilee Project, will be geared toward those who are seeking new challenges later in their ministry, according to Laurie Beckman Yetzer, a diaconal minister in the ELCA and Jubilee project developer.
“How one practices intentional community will be different [in Jubilee],” Beckman Yetzer told Metro Lutheran. “While the core program places participants in shared housing situations, Jubilee participants will find community in their existing congregations and neighborhoods, but will have intentional conversations about the tools necessary for deeper community building.” Jubilee participants will also have the other members of the cohort with whom to practice these skills.
The cohort will gather for a full day about once a month, according to Beckman Yetzer. “These will be opportunities for mutual learning, mutual accountability, and relationship building.” Participation in an affinity group to explore issues of spirituality will be optional.
There will also be some overlap with the core program, including some aspects of the orientation, which will again be held at Luther Seminary in St. Paul.
“In our initial program, we are anticipating about a dozen participants,” said Beckman Yetzer. For more information, visit http://www.lutheranvolunteercorps.org/template/page.cfm? id=200 or call 612/529-2945.
Tags: Bob Hulteen, community living, ELCA, Jubilee, Kelly Schumacher, Kent Goodyear, Laurie Beckman Yetzer, Luther Seminary, Lutheran Volunteer Corps, LVC, older adults, Salim Kaderbhai, simple living, social justice
