It’s no secret that the church is one of the strongest pillars of the existence of Liberia due to its pivotal role played in the formation of what would later be considered as the first independent nation of Africa.
It is written in black and white that Liberia was established out of the belly of the church as history recalls that the declaration for the independence of the West African territory known as the Grain Coast was signed by eleven Christian men on July 26 of 1847 at the Providence Baptist Church. This saw the formation of a new sovereign nation, now Liberia.
In fact, it was later documented by law that Liberia was created on Christians principles suggesting it to be a Christian nation with its capital, now Monrovia, named Christopolis to mean “City of Christ.”
However, Christopolis was later changed to Monrovia to honor US President James Monroe who is said to have played a significant role in the American Colonization Society that fought for the repatriation of free black slaves from America to Africa. Also, the 1986 Constitution changed the part of the former law classifying the nation as a Christian state to what is now upheld- secular state.
All these historical backgrounds stated herein is simply to unarguably justify the fact that no conscious mind would have the fortitude to say otherwise that the church in general is not an important cornerstone of the nation.
Nevertheless, as the church began to evolve and struggle for modernity struck in, it became challenged with a series of morality crises including most recent conversations around homosexuality and gay rights, something that one of the country’s pioneer churches, the United Methodist Church (UMC), is currently battling.
For the last few weeks, the UMC in Liberia has been having serious conversations around the subject, apparently creating a split in the church over the matter. And recent uprisings could suggest that the situation is even getting out of control.
On Sunday, October 13, 2024, worship services at some branches of the UMC in Liberia was disrupted over claims of ongoing gay marriage, creating heated scenes that warranted the intervention of law enforcement officers.
This led to the Liberia National Police (LNP) on Monday, October 14, 2024, inviting the Bishop of the church, Samuel Quaire, for a meeting.
Bishop Quaire told the Inspector General of Police Col. Gregory O. W. Coleman that their mother body (General Conference- USA) gave them an 18-month ultimatum to implement the regionalization process that will determine whether the Liberian church would support same sex marriage. But he said there is no way the church will sign unto same sex marriage because it’s against the laws and cultures of Liberia, and at no time the United Methodist Church intends to conduct same sex marriage as was speculated on social media on Sunday afternoon of October 13, 2024.
In view of these foregoing circumstances within the UMC and the Christian community at large, we hereby appeal to the consciences of all aggrieved parties to the cause, to find an amicable way to solve this matter as it does not affect the UMC alone but paints a negative image of the Liberian church in general.
We also call on members of the church who are to an extent taking the entire crisis out of context and using it to badmouth the church for their own selfish gains to desist, while at the same time exercising patience until the Liberia Annual Conference where an official position will be taken on the matter, something the Bishop has consistently said.
In the main time, we admonish hierarchies of the church to exercise some form of leadership so as to make sure the issue does not further escalate, while the rest of the Christian community stands with the UMC through prayers as it battles this nightmare which has the propensity to spread throughout the church of Liberia. Therefore, we call for calm in all these matters.
