Historical Reflection: The United Methodist Church is the second oldest Christian Denomination in Liberia. The first Christian Denomination is the Baptist .

Liberia’s First President, Joseph Jinkins Roberts was an outstanding Lay Leader in the United Methodist Church. property he willed to the United Methodist Church in the 1800s for educational and religious purposes is still benefiting countless Liberians today. It is wildly accept in Liberia that Roberts was a son of Thomas Jefferson. The fact that Roberts was highly educated speaks well of how United Methodist Church in Virginia treated and invested in the slaves. Robert was born in Norfolk, Virginia, but his parents later moved him to Petersburg, Virginia. There is a statue erected in honor of Roberts at a United Methodist Church in Petersburg. I have personally visited the site and worshipped at the church along with other Liberian Government Officials.

Liberia’s longest serving President, William V. S. Tubman was a Lay Preacher in the United Methodist Church. Tubman was educated at a local United Methodist Seminary in Maryland County, Liberia. He later did apprenticeship law in the same county.

Bishop and Structure of the United Methodist Church in Liberia:

Bishop: Bishop John G. Innis is the current Bishop of the United Methodist Church in Liberia.

Structure: The Liberian Annual Conference is like the Virginia Annual Conference and it is the governing body of the United Methodist Church in Liberia.

Districts are spread in different sub-political regions of the country and each District elects it leaders at its District Conference. The District Superintendent is the leader of the District Conference.

Education: The United Methodist Church has and continues to make immense contributions to the education of Liberia’s children and youth. There are United Methodist Schools in different sectors of the country. In recent years, the Gbanga School of Theology was expanded to a full Methodist University in Liberia. In my research and view, the Catholic Church leads the way in education in Liberia with the United Methodist Church and the Baptist Church as distant seconds. The Lutheran, AME Zion and other Christian Denominations are providing much needed education for the Liberian People.

Medical and Social Services

The United Methodist Church has a lot of medical institutions that train nurses and provide some medical services to Liberians in the interior parts of Liberia. The Leading private medical hospitals in Liberia are those owned by the Catholic Church and the Lutheran Church. Historically, the Baptist was the primary private health care provider, but its facilities were turned over to the Liberian Government. The ELWA Hospital owned by the Sudan Interior Mission (A mixture of conservatism and Pentecostalism) is a leading medical center in Liberia.

The United Methodist Church in Liberia provides social services to the people of Liberia, but the Catholic and Lutherans are leading social service providers and the Baptist Church trails the United Methodist Church in this area. In the US, the Lutheran Church is the top provider of social services for Diaspora Liberians and it is deeply involved in immigration issues for Liberians and other Africans.

Promoting Dialogue between Christianity, Islam and African Traditional Religion

In the late 1980s the Cuttington University College owned by the Episcopal Church in Liberia employed me as assistant professor of Religion and Philosophy. One of the primary responsibilities assigned to me was to teach a course in comparative religion with focus on Islam, Christianity and African Traditional Religion. As I started my preparation for this particular course, I quickly realized that there were limited written materials on the subject matter, especially materials written by Liberians. In fact, I didn’t come across a hand full of published books by Liberians.

After sharing my disappointment with the President of Cuttington University College, Dr. Melvin J. Mason, about how written contributions by Liberians in this area were almost non-existent, he prevailed upon me to begin documenting my views on the three major religions in Liberia and Africa: Islam, Christianity, and African Traditional Religion. More than an informational material to enlighten Liberians about the three major religions in Liberia and Africa, I soon realized in 1990 the hostilities between the three religions and the way they were wrapped up in the deep rooted tribal and ethnic divides that have plunged Liberia into Civil War that lasted for 15 years.

My interest in creating a material and environment that will encourage dialogue and interaction between the three religions is predicated upon the growing trend of Civil Wars and killings by rival religious groups in different African countries like Sudan, Algeria, Somalia, Uganda, The Republic of Congo and other hot spots in Africa. History has taught us that wars based on religious differences are hard to end, and so this exercise will present a proactive approach that will prevent unnecessary Civil Wars and blood sheds in Liberia predicated upon religion.

The content and theology of each religion are building blocks for the dialogue and interaction to take place in a respectful manner. Regrettably, seminary study does not always provide the opportunity for dialogue and interaction between Christian denominations, more or less, between different religions. I have a strong reaction to people who are constantly seeking to invalidate other religions as a way of convincing themselves that their religion or faith is genuine and that the religion or faith of others is not. Such sweeping generalization leads to an unfair characterization of other religion, and inspire negative energies among the different religions. By encouraging dialogue and interaction between Islam, Christianity and African Traditional Religion, the theological focus will shift from playing God to submitting ourselves totally to God’s will and direction. The impact of the Western Missionary movement in Liberia on Islam, Christianity and African Traditional Religions will also be investigated.

As a Christian Minister, I must confess that I’m guilty of trying to prove how right my faith is and how wrong their religions are. I first became aware of this in 1989 when I taught the course on Islam, Christianity and African Traditional Religion. Prior to this time, I have never consciously challenged or analyzed the content and theology of the Christian faith based on agape love, inclusively and sensitivity for and to those of other religions I have met or encountered. My personal awareness, integration and articulation of the Christian faith leave me with no room to be come antagonistic and negative towards other people and their religious beliefs. Now that my ministry has been impacted substantially by the true teachings of Jesus’ built on Love, I find it a stumbling block to my spiritual growth, and that of other believers to invest time and energy alienating others on the basis of their religious persuasions. I hope that this new paradigm will help my fellow Liberians and friends of Liberia to struggle and wrestle with the issue of dialogues and interactions between Islam, Christianity, and African Traditional Religion.

I propose to use this book and other materials written on Islam, Christianity, and African Traditional Religion in Liberia. My project will draw heavily from the previous endeavors of Edward Wilmot Blyden, Alexander Campbell, Marcus Garvey and others who attempted to address this situation, but my project will transcend the informational focuses of the three major religions. My proposal will provide a new direction by paving the way for greater dialogue and communication between Islam, Christianity, and African Traditional Religion in Liberia. Considering the need for mutual respect, peaceful co-existence, and the desperate need for these three religions to begin talking to one another, this new direction provided by my project will provide new language, images, and access to the mysteries of God that can be comprehended in the Liberian context.

This new direction in my project will provide the freedom for the interpretation of God’s redemptive act, reflection on the historicity, the complexities and challenges of the three major religions in Liberia-Islam, Christianity and African Traditional Religion. It will also delve into the exploration of contemporary sensibility in the way God is perceived and addressed by each of the three religions. Moreover, the book will investigate the human dimension of each religion and encourage active participation without the imposition of one’s faith and dogma upon the other. To test run this with Liberians in the United States, I will organize seminars in 9 US Towns and Cities in September and October. I will also have teleconferences (an easy means by which Liberians now conduct meetings in the US). The way I intent to assess its effectiveness is to provide new language, images, and access to the mystery of God in each religion with special emphasis on the Liberian context. I also intent to get feedbacks from participants by passing out questionnaires regarding our exercises of dialogue and interaction between the three religions.

All religions are rich and resolute in what they are saying about God, but also what they are saying about their respective relationship with God. This is the heart or core of any religious reflection upon the experience of its interaction or encounter with God. Who does the religion says God is, who does it say we are and-most importantly-what does this mean for us as Liberians? Undoubtedly, these three questions will form the basis upon which the Liberian people can explore how this new book speaks to them in heart, mind and spirit.

Assumptions

The purpose of this exploration will be understood and welcomed by a majority of Liberians in the United States and Liberia.

Objectives