John Ross Schroeder, senior writer for The Good News and pastor of the Ballymena and Paddock Wood congregations, died in hospital in Oxford on Sabbath, March 8, 2014. He was 77.

John is survived by his wife Jan, daughter Stephanie and her husband Vic, sons Walter and Nathan, daughter-in-law Lori, grandsons Darren and Benjamin, and John’s older brother Bradley.

John grew up in Kenedy, Texas, his father’s family having emigrated from Germany. He attended the University of Texas (Austin) and Ambassador College, Pasadena, California, where he graduated in 1963. He married Jan Jones in 1967, a fellow student of Ambassador College. She was originally from Greenford, England.

After working in the Mail Receiving Department of the Church in Pasadena, he took an interest in journalism and in due course wrote articles for The Plain Truth magazine in the early 1970s. In 1976, he moved with his family to England where his writing career continued in the Church’s office in Borehamwood on the outskirts of London. He was also instrumental in writing some of the Bible Study Course lessons for the Church.

As a member of the Foreign Press Association, Mr. Schroeder travelled widely in Europe as an accredited journalist and was in Berlin on both the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome in 2007 and the 20th anniversary of the unification of Germany three years later. Over the years he wrote articles on various subjects as senior writer for The Good News. He was also editor of the British & European Supplement to The Good News, for which he wrote numerous articles and answers to biblical questions readers sent in.

During the last decade of his life, after his ordination to the ministry, Mr. Schroeder was pastor of two congregations, in southern England and in Northern Ireland.

Beyond his immediate family, John will be greatly missed by his extended family in God’s Church, for which he gave much time and effort in service.

Victor Kubik, president of the United Church of God, comments: “John Ross Schroeder struck me as a man of genuine humility who never advanced himself. He downplayed himself to a fault. He was never pretentious. It was his work and effect on people that speaks for itself in the positive interactions with everyone who knew him.

“I was amazed how much of themselves and their home they shared with the Church and the work. The living room was filled with boxes of Good News magazines to be stuffed into envelopes and mailed.

“John was thrust into the pastoral ministry later in life and was greatly beloved because of his nature that was most befitting a pastor. Never a striker or quarrelsome, but always gentle, hospitable and apt to teach. What an example he set!

“John led a life of great value to his family, to his friends and to God. We will greatly miss him and his broad smile, genuine warmth, knowledge and deep Christian commitment and conversion. Your memory will be with us always, John! May God bless Jan and your children.”

Scott Ashley, managing editor of The Good News and other publications for the Church, adds: “I don’t know that I’ve ever met anyone as dedicated as John. He humbly and quietly went about his work of serving and helping share the good news of God’s coming Kingdom with millions over the years.

“We’re comforted knowing that at the end he was doing what he loved—tending to business in London and travelling on the trains that he loved so much. We know that his race is run and he was faithful to the end. He truly went above and beyond. Our thoughts and prayers are with Jan and her family. We’ll miss him terribly.”