Before attending the UMC General Conference in the United States, the Delegation representing the Liberia Conference said it was mandated to vote against same-sex marriage and the ordination of LGBTQ people becoming pastors, leaders, and bishops.
Monrovia, October 17, 2024: Exchanges of communications show that the Resident Bishop of the Liberia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church (UMC), Samuel Jerome Quire, Jr., did reject the UMC Delegation’s Report from the Postponed 2020 General Conference.
After the UMC delegation headed by Rev. Dr. Jerry P. Kulah submitted its report dated 29 July 2024 to Bishop Quire, he replied to the delegation questioning why its report downplayed the issue of the ratification of the World-Wide Regionalization Plan.
According to the UMC delegation representing the Liberia Annual Conference in the United States for the General Conference, conservatives in the UMC had strongly voted against regionalizing the denomination.
The report indicated that there had been unsuccessful attempts by liberals in the past to regionalize the denomination in 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2019 to allow the practice of same-sex unions in certain regions of the United Methodist Church.
However, Bishop Quire’s August 9, 2024 letter stated that the UMC delegation’s recommendation to align with the “Way Forward Commission’s” recommendation was out of order and should be deleted.
This recommendation, which Bishop Quire opposed, called for the Liberia Episcopal Area of the United Methodist Church to become an Independent Denomination to align with the recommendation posited by the Way Forward Commission’s survey conducted from July to October 2023.
Bishop Quire observed that the Liberian delegation downplays and even condemns the major decision passed at the General Conference concerning Worldwide Regionalization, which is supposed to be ratified by each annual conference.
“Let it be known that by unanimous vote, the Committee on Reference declared and the General Conference approved, that all petitions from individuals, local churches, and conferences no longer associated with The United Methodist Church are disqualified,” he argued.
“Hence, the Liberia Annual Conference, The United Methodist Church, cannot accept a report that mimics those groups that advocated and [are] still advocating for disaffiliation in the UMC,” Bishop Quire continued.
Therefore, he implores the Bishop Kulah-led delegation to revise its report and be more objective rather than subjective so that the members attending the 192nd Session of the Annual Conference in February 2025 will make informed decisions about voting positively for the ratification.
According to the Liberian Delegation’s report, the UMC worldwide has legalized LGBTQ practices, including their ordination as clergy and leaders and election and consecration as bishops.
LGBTQ stands for lesbian (a woman who is having sex with another woman); gay (a man who can have sex with another man); and bi-sexual (a man who is having sexual affairs with both women and men or a woman who is having sexual affairs with both men and women).
The report added that the Transgender is (a male who feels or thinks that he is a woman and therefore changes his sexual organs to that of a female, or a female who feels or thinks that she is a male and hence undergoes operations to change her sexual organs to that of a male.
Queer are a group of people who belong to the queer society, a strange group of people who live a carefree life.
In this society, a person may be sleeping with a woman and a man who are also sleeping with other women and men without any disagreement.
Before the Liberian delegation left for the General Conference, the Liberia Annual Conference held its 191st annual session in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County, in February 2024.
The report said that at that Annual Conference Session, the delegation head, Rev. Dr. Kulah, requested a mandate from the annual conference to guide the delegation regarding issues expected to dominate discussions on the floor of the General Conference.
In response, the report said the Resident Bishop Quire pointed out that the Liberian Annual Conference was against same-sex marriage and the ordination of LGBTQ people becoming pastors, leaders, and bishops in the denomination.
