Global Ministries is saddened to learn of the death of Steven Johns-Boehme
Steven Johns-Boehme
May 21, 1952 – May 7, 2015
Steven Johns-Boehme grew up in Bellefontaine, Ohio, and graduated from Denison University in Granville, Ohio, with degrees in religion and biology. Studying for the ministry, he graduated from Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
A minister of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Reverend Johns-Boehme served congregations in Ohio, Kentucky, and Maryland.
During the period 1981-1990, Steven, and his wife Gratia Johns-Boehme, served in a divided Germany as mission personnel of the Division of Overseas Ministries, one of the predecessor mission bodies of Global Ministries. In West Berlin, Steven worked as a conference leader for the Protestant Academy of the West Berlin Church in the areas of peace and disarmament, East-West relationships and the Jewish-Christian dialog. After more than three years in West Germany, Steven and Gratia were seconded by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the United Methodist Church to the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA (NCC), working with the Protestant Federation of Churches in East Germany. The new element in this assignment was that the Johns-Boehmes, unlike their predecessors, resided in East Berlin, East Germany. Their responsibilities included: working in support of the Ecumenical Relations Office of the Protestant Church in East Germany; broadening the range of contacts and relationships between the NCC and member churches of the Protestant Federation of Churches in East Germany; interpretation and discussion regarding important developments in church in society within the two countries, especially around peace, disarmament, demilitarization and world hunger; and helping with visits and consultations between NCC and member churches of the Protestant Federation of Churches in East Germany.
After the opening up of the Berlin Wall, the Johns-Boehmes returned to the U.S. in 1990 and Steven became the executive director of the council of churches structure in Michigan, where he worked with a wide spectrum of the ecumenical and interfaith community.
In 2000, the family moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where Steven was the Kentuckiana Area Minister for 35 Disciple congregations straddling the Ohio River. He was also an Associate Regional Minister of the Christian Church in Kentucky and in the Indiana Region. They moved to Maryland in 2011, where Steven served as Senior Minister of First Christian Church in Hagerstown, Maryland.
Steven leaves behind his wife, Gratia; two daughters, Zoe, a student in Louisville, and Alizah, a senior at Middletown (MD) High School; and a sister, Joni Johns Lerner, Redding, CT.
A Celebration of Life will be held on Thursday, May 14, 2015, at 2:00 p.m. at First Christian Church, 1345 Potomac Ave., Hagerstown with the Rev. Robert Perry and the Rev. Michael Davison officiating.
Condolences may be sent to Gratia Johns-Boehme, 4405 Onyx Court, Middletown, MD 21769-7528. Memorial gifts may be directed to First Christian Church, 1345 Potomac Ave., Hagerstown, MD 21742.