LCMS Mercy Medical Teams

Health care professionals needed for short-term service

Since 2006, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod’s Mercy Medical Teams have provided desperately needed health care to thousands of patients in underserved regions around the globe.

This short-term volunteer program offers medical professionals opportunities to volunteer abroad in a variety of clinical and health-related settings.

Doctors, nurses, pharmacists, other types of medical professionals, pastors and hard-working laity are coordinated and trained into specific Mercy Medical Teams, which work in conjunction with LCMS partner churches and international clinics to address needs of both body and soul.

Upcoming trips

To view current opportunities to serve on a Mercy Medical Team, visit servenow.lcms.org/short-term.

Short-term service

Join a short-term mission trip lasting about two weeks. Volunteers demonstrate in word and deed the great love that God has for all people through His Son, Jesus Christ. There are trips scheduled all over the world.

View opportunities

Stories from the mission field

Mercy medical teams provide body and soul healing. Teams have traveled to remote communities from Lima, Peru to Datoudjena, Togo to provide spiritual and physical care.

Read stories

Resources & Services

Volunteer

Contact form — Please contact the LCMS if you would like more information about Mercy Medical Teams or if you are interested in volunteering.

Resources

Mercy Medical Teams FAQs — Find answers about costs, financial assistance, roles for non-medical professionals and how to register.
Mercy Medical Teams Brochure — Learn about the two types of teams sent and the comprehensive nature of our work.
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Bulletin Insert

Scholarships

LCMS Mercy Medical Teams may have grant funding available to provide scholarships for LCMS college students studying health-related professions at any university and for LCMS pastors willing to serve as a chaplain for one of our teams.

For more information, email mercyteams@lcms.org.

Partner Organization

Lutherans In Medical Missions — LIMM works with local and global partners to share Christ’s healing in medically underserved communities.

LIMM partners with LCMS Mercy Medical Teams, providing travel grants and working together in the development and implementation of Community Health Education team trips.

* The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod will not knowingly lead a team into political unrest or any other situation where safety may be compromised. Decisions to cancel a trip may be made shortly before the scheduled date, based on firsthand information from our local contacts.

Erin Alter, Director,
Short-Term Mission Teams

Contact Ministry

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Email

888-843-5267

Program Overview

The LCMS sends Mercy Medical Teams to underserved regions around the globe, and they deliver healing through medicine and the Gospel.

Download bulletin insert

How to help

Do you want to help, but can’t volunteer? Your financial gifts can support medical projects around the world.

Give now

Give by mail:

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Attn: Mercy Medical Teams
P.O. Box 66861
St. Louis, MO 63166-6861

Give by phone:

888-930-4438

When gifts exceed the total needed for this opportunity the gifts received will be used as determined by The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Your gift is tax deductible to the extent permitted by law.

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Contact Us

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Church Info Center: 888-843-5267
Staff Switchboard: 800-248-1930
Donor Care Line: 888-930-4438

1333 S. Kirkwood Road, St. Louis, MO 63122-7226

Auxiliaries and Seminaries

Partners

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod Inc., including Mission Central (in Mapleton, Iowa), is an IRS registered 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charity.

A contribution designated (restricted) for a specific purpose, when accepted, will be used only to fund expenses related to that purpose. Occasionally, we may receive more in contributions for a particular purpose than can be wisely applied to it in the foreseeable future or the purpose may cease to be feasible. In these situations, the LCMS will make reasonable attempts to contact contributors to apply their contribution toward another aspect of ministry that aligns closely the contributor’s goals and values. If a contributor cannot be contacted, the LCMS will use the gift to meet a similar pressing need that most closely matches the contributor's original intent.

Consistent with Synod Board policy and in recognition of a more challenging economic and philanthropic/fundraising environment due to inflationary pressure, not more than 13.5 percent of any charitable contribution will be allocated to administering gifts and communicating with contributors. Contributions received and accepted by the LCMS are deemed to be in agreement with this statement.

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