Paul Boschman

Paul Wilfred Boschman: missionary, pastor and church planter, was born 23 January 1923, at Petaigon, Saskatchewan to Cornelius and Agatha (Dyck) Boschman. Paul was the eldest of ten children. He married LaVerne Linscheid on 23 June 1950. She died of Huntington disease 16 February 1971. He then married Mary Anne (Janzen Isaac) Boschman, a widow with three children, Larry, Don, and Rachel, in 1973. Paul Boschman brought two children into the family, Beverly (deceased 1986), and Lawrence. Paul died at home after a two-year struggle with cancer 19 January 1994.

Paul Boschman felt the call to be a missionary at 16. He became a Christian in 1939 and was baptized in the Carrot River Mennonite Church, Saskatchewan in 1941. Boschman attended elementary school in Petaigon, high school in Carrot River and Rosthern Junior College. He attended Hepburn Bible School in Saskatchewan, Bethel College (BA), Mennonite Biblical Seminary (M.Div.), and Fuller Theological Seminary in the US.

In the course of his life Paul Boschman belonged to the Conference of Mennonites of Saskatchewan, the Japanese Mennonite Conference, and the Conference of Mennonites in BC. Boschman served on the Board of the General Conference Commission of Home Ministries, the Resource Board, as a congregational representative to the Worldwide Evangelism-in-depth Organization, and as co-coordinator of Chinese Ministries in Canada.

Boschman was ordained on three occasions. He was ordained as a minister of the Gospel by Paul Schroeder in 1948, as a missionary by J. J. Thiessen in 1951, and as an elder in Japan by Andrew Shelly in 1965.

Paul Boschman co-authored and edited Experiments in Church Growth: Japan (1968), published a number of pamphlets, Church Growth and Social Structures, and Church Growth Problems Arising in the Mission Field, plus other papers and articles.

The following appreciation award was presented to Paul Boschman on 5 October 1980 in Kobayashi, Japan: "We are very grateful that you kindly visited us, the Aichi Christian community in Nagoya, today. Looking back at our past history the Reverend Boschman has devoted the best years of his life to the work of evangelism in Japan. Now we are celebrating the 25th anniversary of the beginning of his work in Japan."

The profound impact Paul Boschman had as a missionary, pastor and church planter cannot be more clearly stated than in the words of the award.

©1996-2008 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.

To cite this page: