Inter-American Division President Pastor Elie Henry (left) congratulates Pastor Jurnensley Koots (center) during the pastoral ordination ceremony at the Antriol Adventist Church in Bonaire as Pastor Shurman Kook (rigth) president of the Dutch Caribbean Union, on Mar. 9, 2024. Pastor Koots became the first Adventist minister ordained on the island of Bonaire. Koots currently serves as the executive secretary of the Bonaire Mission. [Photo: Dutch Caribbean Union]
May 24, 2024 | Kralendijk, Bonaire | Pablo Lake and Inter-American Division News
Seventh-day Adventists in Bonaire, an island municipality of the Netherlands, gathered recently to witness the first ordination ceremony to take place on the island. More than 200 church leaders, members, family, and community members met at Antriol Adventist Church on the premises of the original site of the first church building in Bonaire, as Pastor Jurvensley Koots was officially ordained. Koots has been serving as the executive secretary of the Bonaire Mission since 2018.
“This marks a pivotal moment for the local church and its members,” said Pastor Shurman Kook, president of the Dutch Caribbean Union which oversees the church in Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. “The church in Bonaire is being empowered with a minister with full ecclesiastical authority today,” said Kook. “There is no longer a need for authorization to perform baptisms or to have an ordained minister sent from the Dutch Caribbean Union to perform the services of a duly authorized Seventh-day Adventist minister.”
Church leaders place their hands on Pastor Jurvensley Koots as Pastor Elie Henry (left) president of the Inter-American Division prays during the pastoral ordination. [Photo: Dutch Caribbean Union]
“Our local church members see this event as a beacon of growth and empowerment for the advancement of their faith on the island,” said Kook.
Inter-American Division President Pastor Elie Henry spoke during the ceremony as he reflected on the significant milestone reached by the membership with an Adventist message legacy since the first church was organized in 1941 on the island.
Church members gathered at the Antriol Adventist Church to witness the pastoral ordination in Bonaire recently. [Photo: Dutch Caribbean Union][Photo: Dutch Caribbean Union]
Pastor Koots, 40, is originally from Curacao and has been serving as a pastor on Bonaire since 2017, before he was called to serve in Bonaire as a pastor and appointed as executive secretary of the Bonaire Mission, where he has developed his ministry primarily.
Pastor Jurvensley Koots, executive secretary of the Bonaire Mission speaks to the congregation after his ordination at the Antriol Adventist Church, March 9, 2024. [Photo: Dutch Caribbean Union]
Pastor Koots was handed the minister’s bible by Nurelle Chirino, treasurer of the Bonaire Mission. “We thank you and your entire family for what you are doing for the advancement of God’s work here in Bonaire,” Chirino said.
Newly ordained Jurvensley Koots and his wife Suehedy are honored with their two young girls during the special program in Bonaire. [Photo: Dutch Caribbean Union]
There are more than 430 Seventh-day Adventists attending four congregations in Bonaire.