Religion teacher at HKIS, 1991-96
Member of the Establishment Committee, Concordia International School Hanoi
Rev. Theodore (Ted) Engelbrecht has served the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) wholeheartedly for many years. He was a teacher at HKIS from 1991 to 1996, and then a missionary in Vietnam for 15 years.
At HKIS, Ted headed up the High School’s Religion Department and was the K-12 Religion Curriculum Coordinator from 1991 to 1996.
Dr. Marty Schmidt, a Humanities teacher in the High School at HKIS, worked closely with Ted, and recalled, “Ted was my religion department head for four years, from 1992 to 1996. His big heart, love of life, and natural intelligence were all widely recognized. More personally, he introduced me, as a young college graduate, to many ways of thought that were new and exciting from our shared Christian tradition as well as the traditions of India, where he grew up. Those four years that we worked together teaching religion in the High School were an extremely rich time of intellectual and spiritual growth, and I remain grateful for Ted’s presence in my life at the time and in the years since.”
After leaving Hong Kong in 1996, Ted opened the official LCMS mission presence as an NGO in Vietnam, in collaboration with the National Institute for Nutrition. Ted and his wife Jacqueline served in the country for 15 years, and he led the team there that undertook the five-year project to found HKIS’s sister school, Concordia International School Hanoi, which opened in 2011. He also served as the Area Facilitator for S. E. Asia, supervising the work of the LCMS in seven countries, and more recently was the Executive Director of the Asia Lutheran Education Association.
Pastor Joel Schiewe of the Church of All Nations in Hong Kong acknowledged Ted for his work in Hong Kong and Vietnam, describing him as “patient, sensitive, and driven.”
He added, “As a teacher, Ted embodied the HKIS reality that being grounded in the Christian faith inspires respect for the spiritual lives of all. And in Vietnam, Ted’s love for mercy and people also laid the relational foundation for Concordia International School Hanoi. I first met Ted in summer Hebrew class at Concordia Seminary. Ted brought cross-cultural and practical experience into relationship with the eternal scriptural truths. He lives in this relationship of good news to inspire others for mercy and service.”
Ted is currently an Associate Professor of Theology at Concordia University, Portland, Oregon, USA.