Liberian lawmakers are overseeing a mediation between the United Methodist Church and the Global Methodist Church over disputes between the two denominations over property and assets.
The UMC and the new conservative Methodist denomination have had heated differences over who rightfully controls various church properties in the West African nation.
Earlier this month, the Liberian Senate had representatives of both bodies meet for an official hearing, with Joint Senate Committee on Internal Affairs, Judiciary, Claims, Human Rights & Petitions, and Defense, Security, Intelligence & Veteran Affairs overseeing the mediation, reports The Liberian Investigator.
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An additional hearing between the two parties is expected in the near future, according to Sen. J. Gbleh-bo Brown of Maryland County, who serves as acting chair of the Internal Affairs Committee.
“The Joint Committee was able to de-escalate tensions between the two parties and ensure the neutrality of the police in this matter,” Brown was quoted as saying.
The senator emphasized the need for his colleagues to remain neutral on the matter.
“Once both parties agree to this approach, we will formulate a plan of action to be submitted to the Plenary, with the hope that all involved will participate,” he said.
At the UMC General Conference last year, delegates voted to remove from the Book of Discipline a host of rules like the ban on same-sex marriage ceremonies, the ordination of noncelibate homosexuals and the funding of LGBT advocacy groups.
General Conference delegates also voted to remove a statement from the Book of Discipline declaring that homosexuality is “incompatible with Christian teaching.”
These changes occurred in large part because of the recent departure of around 7,500 mostly conservative congregations from the UMC over disagreement with the refusal of many progressive leaders to enforce the rules in the Book of Discipline on LGBT issues. Many churches have joined the Global Methodist Church, launched in 2022 as a theologically conservative alternative to UMC.
Not only does Liberia not legally recognize same-sex marriage, but the government also criminally punishes homosexuality. LGBT ideology is generally rejected culturally.
In June 2024, shortly after the denomination approved the changes, Liberian Bishop Samuel J. Quire Jr. released a statement saying that his regional body would retain the traditional standards on marriage and ordination.
“The Liberia Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church is traditional in its interpretation of Holy Scripture and will continue its evangelistic outreach to all persons who live in darkness and do not know the redemptive grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ,” he stated.
“The United Methodist Church is not a GAY Church! It is a strong Church of God administering to sinners who are in need of the saving knowledge and grace of God!”
However, many within the Liberian Annual Conference have still decided to break away from the UMC and join the GMC. The breakaway group is led by the Rev. Jerry Kulah, who has argued that Quire had previously agreed to have the regional body leave the UMC if they changed the rules on LGBT issues.
“Bishop and all of us agreed that the day the UMC worldwide passes this law, we will leave from there (UMC),” Kulah said in recent remarks, as quoted by the Monrovia-based Women Voices Newspaper.
“Bishop is on video, where he went from church to church, district to district, to inform the districts that when this happens, the UMC Liberia will leave. … We have chosen not to follow him.”
Earlier this month, Kulah and several supporters were arrested and temporarily jailed when they confronted UMC members at a church building that the GMC members claim rightfully belongs to them.
The UMC’s changes to the Book of Discipline have negatively impacted the denomination’s presence in West Africa, as many churches have left and, in some places, violence has occurred between UMC and GMC members.
For example, the Côte d’Ivoire Conference, which had approximately 1 million members and was one of the largest regional bodies in the denomination, voted last year to leave the UMC due to the changes.
In recent months, violence has erupted between UMC and GMC members in Nigeria, as the two parties are in a legal dispute over which denomination owns the properties and assets of the Nigerian Episcopal Area.
