{{short description|American Anglican bishop (born 1968)}} {{Infobox Christian leader | type = Bishop | honorific_prefix = The Right Reverend | name = John Boonzaaijer | title = Suffragan Bishop of Cuba | image = | alt = | caption = | church = Anglican Church in North America<br/>Reformed Episcopal Church | archdiocese = | diocese = Cuba | see = | term = 2024–present | predecessor = Willians Mendez Suarez | successor = | other_post = Rector, Chapel of the Cross (2007–present); President, REC Board of Foreign Missions (2020–present) |<!-- Orders --> | ordination = | ordained_by = | consecration = February 15, 2024 | consecrated_by = Ray Sutton | rank = <!-- Personal details --> | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1968}} | birth_place = Kalamazoo, Michigan, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | previous_post = REC Canon for Foreign Missions (2020–2024) }} '''John Peter Boonzaaijer''' ({{IPA|nl|ˈboːnˌzaːi.ər|-|nl-boonzaaier.ogg}}; born 1968) is an American Anglican bishop. He serves as president of the Reformed Episcopal Church's Board of Foreign Missions and as suffragan bishop for the REC's Missionary Diocese of Cuba.
==Early life and education== Boonzaaijer was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, as one of nine children of Dutch immigrant parents in a bilingual household.<ref name="st-tim-profile">{{cite web |title=The Rev. Cn. John Boonzaaijer — Head of School |url=https://www.thesainttimothyschool.org/faculty/fr-john-boonzaaijer-head-of-school |publisher=The Saint Timothy School |access-date=25 January 2024}}</ref> His family ran Boonzaaijer's Bakery in Kalamazoo<ref name="bakery">{{cite news |title=Kalamazoo's Boozaaijer Bakery to close doors after 62 years |url=https://wwmt.com/news/local/boozaaijer-bakery-closing-62-years-bread-custards-retire-business-service-family-operated-generations-end-kalamazoo-local |access-date=25 January 2024 |work=News Channel 3 |date=December 6, 2023}}</ref> and Boonzaaijer worked in the bakery as a young person.<ref name="st-tim-profile" />
Boonzaaijer graduated from Kalamazoo's Christian Reformed school system and enrolled in Western Michigan University in 1986. After discerning a call to pastoral ministry, he transferred to Toronto Baptist Seminary and Bible College, where he earned a B.Th. in 1991. In 1994, after completing a curacy and spending a year as a cross-country truck driver, Boonzaaijer began his first pastorate in Sand Springs, Oklahoma. That year he married his wife, Christine; the Boonzaaijers have five adult children.<ref name="sutton-letter">{{cite web |last1=Sutton |first1=Ray R. |title=Letter Announcing the Election of John Boonzaaijer as Bishop |url=https://dq5pwpg1q8ru0.cloudfront.net/2023/11/21/12/48/46/b53dbfdc-b92c-459f-89d7-37186ffb0ae8/Sutton%20Ltr-JPB%20%20Cuba%20Bishop.pdf |publisher=Reformed Episcopal Church |access-date=25 January 2024 |date=2023}}</ref>
==Reformed Episcopal Church== Boonzaaijer entered the Reformed Episcopal Church in 2002, serving as a teacher and assistant rector of Good Shepherd REC in Tyler, Texas, under Walter Banek. He completed his M.Div. from Cummins Seminary in 2004. In 2007, Boonzaaijer was called as rector of Chapel of the Cross in Dallas, where he founded and served as head of school of the St. Timothy School, a K-12 classical Christian school.<ref name="st-tim-profile" /> Boonzaaijer also completed a Th.M. at Cranmer Theological House in 2009 and is a doctoral candidate at Nashotah House.<ref name="sutton-letter" /> At the invitation of Chapel of the Cross member Michael C. Burgess, Boonzaaijer was guest chaplain in the U.S. House of Representatives on June 20, 2014.<ref name="congressional-record">{{cite journal |title=House of Representatives |journal=Congressional Record |date=June 20, 2014 |volume=160 |issue=97 |page=1 |url=https://www.congress.gov/113/crec/2014/06/20/CREC-2014-06-20.pdf |access-date=25 January 2024}}</ref> He also served as president of the Anglican School Association<ref name="asa">{{cite web |title=Anglican School Association |url=http://rechurch.org/gc2023/reports/ReportPacket-57thGeneralCouncil.pdf |website=REPORTS FOR THE 57th General Council OF THE REFORMED EPISCOPAL CHURCH |publisher=Reformed Episcopal Church |access-date=25 January 2024 |page=3F-3}}</ref> and on the catechism task force for the Anglican Church in North America.<ref name="anglican-ink">{{cite news |title=ACNA College of Bishops Consents to Election of three suffragan bishops |url=https://anglican.ink/2024/01/11/acna-college-of-bishops-consents-to-election-of-three-suffragan-bishops/ |access-date=25 January 2024 |work=Anglican Ink |date=January 11, 2024}}</ref>
Boonzaaijer became involved in foreign missions around 2014.<ref name="sutton-letter" /> Starting in 2020, Boonzaaijer was elected president of the REC's Board of Foreign Missions, partnering with REC missionary and church planting efforts in Croatia, Cuba, Germany, Malawi and elsewhere.<ref name="REC-GC-2021">{{cite web |title=Board of Foreign Missions Report to the 56th General Council Of the Reformed Episcopal Church |url=http://rechurch.org/gc2021/56thGeneralCouncil2021-ReportPacket.pdf |website=REPORTS FOR THE 56th General Council OF THE REFORMED EPISCOPAL CHURCH |publisher=Reformed Episcopal Church |access-date=25 January 2024 |page=60}}</ref> Presiding Bishop Ray Sutton also named Boonzaaijer as his canon for foreign missions.<ref name="sutton-letter" />
Determining a need for more oversight of the Missionary Diocese of Cuba, Sutton and the REC bishops in 2023 elected Boonzaaijer to serve as a suffragan bishop for the diocese. Boonzaaijer will continue to serve as president of the BFM and rector of Chapel of the Cross.<ref name="sutton-letter" /> While not required by REC canons, Boonzaaijer's election was consented by the Anglican Church in North America College of Bishops, allowing him to sit in the ACNA college.<ref name="anglican-ink" /> He was consecrated as a bishop on February 15, 2024, at the Cathedral Church of the Holy Communion in Dallas.<ref name="consecration">{{cite web |title=Consecration of a Bishop |url=https://www.thechapelofthecross.com/events/consecration-of-a-bishop/2024-02-15 |publisher=Chapel of the Cross}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
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Category:Living people Category:Bishops of the Anglican Church in North America Category:1968 births Category:Bishops of the Reformed Episcopal Church Category:American people of Dutch descent Category:People from Kalamazoo, Michigan Category:Converts to Anglicanism from Calvinism