Formerly known as “Dutch Guyana”, Suriname lies immediately southeast of Guyana – which was “British Guyana”, and west of the small country of French Guyana.
This country maintains close ties with the Netherlands, and Dutch is still widely spoken, as well as many other languages. Guyana, Suriname and French Guyana are 3 of the 4 non-Hispanic language countries in South America (the 4th being Brazil whose major language is Portuguese). Because of their location on the northeast coast of South America, they are grouped with our companion churches in Haiti and Cuba and considered to be “Caribbean”.
The President of the Evangelisch Lutherse Kerk in Suriname (ELKS) is Yolanda Yehe, having been elected in 2022. There are four congregations in and around Paramaribo. Currently one of ELKS’s pastors, Rev. Danielle Dokman, is completing her PhD through Luther Seminary in the US; during 2024, Bishop Suarez and Rev. Carlos Ham participated in the ordination of Rafael Van Ommeren who graduated from UTCWI in Jamaica.
Since 2020, the Florida-Bahamas Synod has partnered with ELKS and the ELCA Area for Service and Justice in the arena of gender justice. Global Mission has provided funds to help sponsor two rooms in a shelter named STICRIS, a private-public partnership in Suriname providing housing and support services to abused women and their families (pictures below). FBS also supported and attended a virtual symposium on the topic in October 2021, hosted by ELKS. Next, members of the Suriname Team worked with ELKS and other companions to create a devotion for the Sixteen Days of Advocacy for Gender Justice in December 2021. It can be found at the following YouTube link: https://youtu.be/Ax0561UpBn8. Finally, ELKS women participated in the April 2024 virtual two-evening retreat with ELCG (Lutheran Church in Guyana) and FB Synod entitled “Finding Hope in a Complex World.” We hope to join the three groups again for an in-person retreat to be held in August 2026 in Guyana.
Marcee Wilkes (marceestrickland@gmail.com) is the chair of the Guyana-Suriname Team. Please contact her or Global Mission Table Chair Rev. Katie Carroll (revkhc@gmail.com) to learn more and get involved.
