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Moyer was born on January 22, 1940, Michigan. As his father was stationed several places, John moved many places within California during his childhood. He entered Los Angeles City College in 1958 and the University of Southern California in 1960, majoring in the Philosophy of Religion. He graduated in 1962, then serving for the United Church of Christ in Hawaii.
In 1955 he became a member of St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, preparing for ministry and entering San Francisco Theological Seminary in 1962. Soon after, he married Linda Jean Lancione in 1963.
In 1964 John received a one-year fellowship from the Danforth Foundation to study campus ministry at Middlebury College in Vermont, later he attended the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. After graduation, John was accepted in the Frontier Internship in Mission Program of the United Presbyterian Church, and attended the Graduate Theological Academy in Bucharest, Romania, for doctoral studies. During this time, he attended the WCC Assembly in Uppsala, Sweden, and the General Assembly of the Christian Peace Conference in Prague.
In 1969 John and his family returned to California for John to serve as campus minister at California State College in Fullerton before he became the University Pastor at Unitas, University of California. His beloved sons, John David and Jason were born these years.
In 1975 John was appointed Coordinator for the European Contact Group under the WCC-related Urban mission-program. The family moved to Amsterdam, Europe, while John travelled extensively between Eastern and Western Europe.
Returning to Berkeley, California in 1980, John worked for the Student Christian Movement, among other issues, addressing the question of structural unemployment in the US. In 1984, he was became the Executive Director of the Northern California Ecumenical Council, involving extensive travel, and work with North Korea, El Salvador, Central America, South Africa, as well as the challenge of refugees and homeless people in California. John and his wife Linda parted in 1990.
John moved to Geneva, Switzerland to become the director of the Frontier Internship in Mission (FIM) in 1990, a position he held until his retirement.
A partner organization of the WCC, FIM was a program for Christian missionary work that ran from 1961 to 1974. Nearly 150 college or seminary graduates participated in the program, which was broadly ecumenical in concept and execution and closely tied to the World Student Christian Federation.
During these years John met Kristin Roaldseth Moyer from Norway, who at the time worked for the Norwegian Church Aid, later for the Lutheran World Federation.
They married in 1993, settling in Geneva. FIM was a great and challenging task for John, taking him all over the world. The program involved work with churches, organizations, and people from around 40 countries, where young people were recruited to special internship programs, hosted by churches and communities in challenging circumstances. John was a daring director, challenging young people to take on tough conditions, study hard, and contribute to the ecumenical movement's work for the coming of the Reign of God. John is well known for his care for the interns of FIM.
Upon retirement, John obtained the title of Doctor of Divinity. With his beloved Kristin, he moved to join ecumenical friends in the beautiful village of St. Hilaire in Southern France. He was thrilled to become a grandfather. With his ecumenical friends and French neighbors, John and Kristin have kept in touch with a vast network, always understanding and welcoming the ecumenical movement, as well as family and friends.
Moyer’s close friend Beate Fagerli, senior adviser at the Church of Norway’s Council on Ecumenical and International Relations, Department on Ecumenism and Dialogue, wrote:
“John, you suggested mentors to us, but, as your door was always open, it was you who became our mentor. You created a space where young interns and students could meet. And FIM and WSCF, intrinsically linked, continued to collaborate, despite the competition for church donors. This strike of luck also brought your wife, Kristin into our lives. Kristin and you opened your home to us all. The two of you created a safe space for open, ecumenical discussion, talk and bonding. I, then, had fallen in love with Thomas, a crazy Norwegian artist, and you graced our wedding. Thomas and you immediately bonded. Thomas was always questioning God, churches and the world. Finally, he met his match in you. Always ready to argue and laugh, you became his favorite pastor. The three of you taught me to question everything, love and laugh! The four of us, will always keep in touch. We shall cherish Kristin for you, John, the way she and you have cherished us.”
Moyer leaves behind his wife Kristin, their dear sons John David and Jason and their families.
