Mar 20, 2018
The entire Seventh Day Baptist Community from around the world is mourning the tragic passing of Pastor Jonas Sommer, his wife Clarice, and their children Marcos and Paula. An auto accident in their homeland of Brazil is responsible for claiming their lives on February 15, 2018.
Pastor Jonas was the President of the Seventh Day Baptist World Federation.
Kevin Butler
former SR Editor
Unforgettable
Jonas was one of the first Brazilian SDBs we met at the Curitiba airport, and one of the hardest to say goodbye to.
He was quiet and thoughtful, which I interpreted as Jonas not being confident with his English skills. That was partly true. As his English got better, so did our friendship. We will never forget his permanent grin and rapid-fire laugh.
Jonas helped to teach me some Portuguese, and thanks to the nickname he bestowed on me, we taught his friends some English. It was so hot there, I was known to carry a battery-operated fan, like everywhere. The Brazilians would point to me and exclaim, “Fan Man!”
Dale Thorngate
General Secretary Emeritus, SDB World Federation
Jonas Sommer was a Baptist Bible college student when I first met him in Brazil in 2001 during preparations for the SDB World Federation to meet there in 2003. For the next two years he translated hundreds of email and airmail communications (English to Portuguese; Portuguese to English) between the Brazil Conference and World Federation leaders. It was a task crucial to the success of the 2003 sessions.
Two strong themes emerge as I reflect on the all-too-short friendship we shared over the next seventeen years: Jonas’ vision and commitment to education for pastoral ministry and his development of his own gift for bilingual communication as a key to that education in his own Conference and in the larger SDB world. One measurable result is the training of over 100 Brazil pastors in the three-year TIME (Training in Ministry and Extension) program he adapted and conducted for the Brazil Conference.
The Brazil SDB Conference and SDBs around the world have lost a dear friend, a masterful ministerial leader, and, in Clarice, a significant woman of loving ministerial vision. The loss of his whole family at once is a tremendous blow to me personally and to Seventh Day Baptists everywhere. Their legacy will bless us for a long time.
Janet Thorngate
Editor Emeritus, SDB World; Tribute to Clarice
Within hours after I met Clarice Kollenberg Sommer, we recognized laughingly that we were both “bag ladies.” I was armed with “hostess gifts” for our time in Brazil, a pile of easily packable cloth bags with Seventh Day Baptist logos on them. Clarice was ecstatic to discover a bright green one and immediately incorporated it into the several bags being packed for an all-day Sabbath at church — bags for music, Sabbath School materials, lunch (two or three), things for the children (not her own children; they were yet unborn). “Bags, bags, bags!” she quipped in English, and I recognized my own pattern of preparations for Sabbath. It became our mantra as we traveled with our husbands the next three weeks visiting churches, attending their Conference, sightseeing, renewing friendships and making new ones. That first week in her home, and in mine a year later, we went through kitchen cupboards and drawers naming forks, knives, sugar, flour–in English and Portuguese–supposedly teaching each other our language. She was the one who learned, and when we spent a week in her home nine years later (a year ago) she was teaching English classes and teaching her own young children, two of the many additional roles for which she packed “bags, bags, bags.” Her big bags were suitcases for travel as leader of their Conference Women’s Federation, part of the team she had marshaled to conduct women’s regional weekend retreats in churches around the country. Perhaps her most dramatic “bag project” was their making clothes and collecting clothes to fill suitcases that the World Federation African delegates could take home for distribution in their churches and outreach ministries. Clarice’s bags were always filled for other people.
Canaan Phiri
SDB World Federation Vice President for Africa
Africa Mourns the SDB World Federation President
On behalf of all SDBs in Africa, I would like to express our profound shock at the tragic and untimely death of Jonas Sommer, the President of SDBWF, and his entire family.
I personally first met Jonas in 2003 at an SDB World Federation
conference in Curitiba, Brazil, as a youthful but hardworking pastor. In 2004 he visited Malawi on a mission to assist in de-linking and registering the Mozambican Conference. I had the privilege of meeting Jonas again at the SDBWF sessions hosted by Brazil again in 2017 — this time, married to a fair lady, Clarice, and blessed with two cute children. Jonas and Clarice were a perfect match, both committed to serving the Lord.
Jonas’ maturity surpassed his age: a man of few words but ever smiling, friendly and accommodating. No wonder the entire conference unanimously elected him to the highest office in SDBWF!
We in Africa join the rest of the SDB fraternity worldwide, and the Brazilian Conference, in mourning this great couple and their two children whom death has deprived us of. We will miss Jonas’ commitment and the budding vision he had for the world body.
Pastor Luciano Barreto Nogueira De Moura
former Seventh Day Baptist World Federation Vice President for South America
“The power of choice …” — A tribute to the Sommer family
“… and most importantly, consider God in your decisions!” — Pastor Jonas Sommer (September 10, 2016 – São Paulo SDB church)
It’s very important to know what is your calling, and your life purpose.
That was the admonition Pastor Jonas had for any and every one, especially the young people he had an opportunity to influence. “Whether you are from the countryside, with a simple, rural upbringing, or you are from contrasting circumstances, you can overcome every
obstacle and dedicate your life to helping people and preaching the Gospel of Christ!” Those chosen by God consider Him in their decisions and are victorious in Christ!
That’s how Jonas and Clarice Sommer were. They were chosen and set apart by God, to live in Christ and for Christ. God blessed them with beautiful children. We were blessed for their lives, for their care, kindness, attention and love, that they gave without reservation. God used them fully to bless lives and fulfill the mission of preaching the Gospel of love and salvation. Their legacy in the T.I.M.E. Program and Women’s Board will remain in our minds and hearts. They were a loving father and mother, excellent preachers, dedicated disciplers and beloved friends.
Thank you, Lord, for the lives of Jonas, Clarice, Marcos Paulo and Paula Hadassa!
John Pethtel
Seventh Day Baptist World Federation Vice President for North America
“Please tell me this is not true.” This is what I said to a Brazilian friend when he tried to contact me after I had read a story on Facebook about the tragic death of the Sommers family.
While physical death on this side of eternity is part of the curse of sin, we expect it to happen to our 90-year-old grandma — not a young vibrant family.
Jonas was a loyal and caring friend. He loved and did everything he could to provide for his family. He was a wise and knowledgeable pastor who served as a role model for all ages. Even in his frustration with an imperfect world, he showed commitment to the people and causes that came into his path.
Jonas’ legacy will be that he made people care more. More about God. More about their church. More about their family. His passing will lead me to care more, too. More about my short time here on Earth and how to leverage it for Kingdom impact.
Andy Samuels
General Secretary, SDB World Federation
Jonas had become one of my very best friends. He is one of the few people who specifically and intentionally asked me, “Would you be my mentor?” I have had the unmistakable joy and privilege of traveling to Brazil on about seven different occasions. For every one of those trips, except for the first one in 2003, and the most recent in 2017, my friend Jonas was almost single-handedly responsible for me being there.
Jonas bore the fruit of the Spirit. He was visionary. He was committed. He had a sharp intellect. He was an effective leader.
Shortly before his passing, in his capacity as President, he had unveiled to the SDB World Federation member conferences, a five year plan for growth and development. It is an excellent plan. Clarice was a worthy spouse, sharing with her husband in all aspects of ministry. Both of their darling children had inherited their parents’ very active sense of humor, and Marcos shared a few jokes with me on occasion.
Their legacy must continue.
Rob Appel
Executive Director, SDB General Conference USA & Canada
Jonas & Clarice were my friends! Three years ago I was privileged to spend a week with them, in their home, in Santo Antônio do Sudoeste, Brazil, where I came to love them and appreciate the wonderful ministry they shared together. I also got to know their two wonderful children, Marcos and Paula. Paula was the same age as my oldest granddaughter and she was prompted by Jonas to call me, “Papa.”
Jonas was a wise man, Clarice was exceptionally astute! Together they were a force to be reckoned with. The Brazilian T.I.M.E. program that was run by Jonas was the envy of all SDB Conferences around the World. What Jonas did in Brazil was ground-breaking! Pastors in Brazil owe their start and education to Jonas’ efforts.
Jonas was a remarkable soccer player. He didn’t have the look, but he was determined and elusive. He was the same way in his ministry. He could look like he was complacent about a subject, and then he could speak about it with such passion!
I was devastated to hear of their passing. They will be sorely missed. God bless all they touched!
