Teaching for the Lord:

John Thompson remembers 15 years of ministry in the Pacific

by John Shoemaker & John Thompson

MAR. 26, 2021

John Thompson teaches mathematics at the Lugos Boys' School on Manus Island in the 1960's. "When you go as a missionary, you teach everything," John says, including church history, English, and math.

Do you remember what you wanted to be when you were six years old? For John Thompson, at this tender age, his response would surprise you: a missionary.

His connection to Liebenzell USA — and to teaching — goes back to before his birth. His mother grew up in Baden, South Germany, just on the border of Switzerland, and one of her teachers happened to be a Christian from Liebenzell, Germany. When his mother came to America at age 18 in 1926, she joined a Christian Endeavor Jugendbund (youth group). That group developed close ties with Liebenzell Mission in the early 1940's, when Henry and Anna Zimmermann came to the U.S.A. from China on their way to Germany. A child at that time, John spent his early life in a family that made trips from New York City to spend time on Schooley’s Mountain, the property the Zimmermanns purchased. 

Through an Evangelical Church (now the Evangelical United Brethren Church), he also met one of their pastors who had been a missionary in China, Frederick Brandauer. On a visit to his parents, Pastor Brandauer posed the question to John, “Wouldn’t you like to be a missionary some day?” Little did he know that John’s "Yes!" was sincere.

John's experience with missionaries extended to Sunday School, where John’s cousin, Ruth Vogelmann, taught. She eventually became a Liebenzell USA missionary, and gave thrilling Bible lessons and often told the class missionary stories. In high school, John joined a Born-Againers ("HiBA") Club that encouraged him to think about missions. Finally, when he was about 16, a missionary speaker at the annual Mission’s Sunday in Schooley’s Mountain challenged young people to make their declaration to serve as missionaries. John made his intentions public.

After graduation from high school, John attended Houghton College in northern New York, where he majored in Comprehensive Religion and was further encouraged to pursue a career in missions.

God was not done preparing him yet. He attended graduate school, earning a degree in elementary education from Long Island University. While studying, he also taught a few years in a public school in Brooklyn, since his cousin Ruth told him of the need for elementary teachers on the mission field. She was already teaching at the Liebenzell Mission school at Lugos on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea.

In March 1966, the moment arrived: John left for Manus Island. While there, he taught with his cousin Ruth and the Dietsch families, who were also missionaries with Liebenzell USA. Often on weekends he went with a dozen students and workers to preach in villages that did not have pastors. It meant trekking in the heat of the tropical jungles and swimming across rivers. It wasn’t long before he became headmaster of the Lugos School. After almost five years, he had a furlough in the U.S.A.