The United Methodist Church in Liberia has been engulfed in crisis over a regionalization plan that allegedly allows gays and lesbians to be ordained as clergy.
By Ramsey N. Singbeh, Jr., in Margibi
Monrovia, January 21, 2025: More than twelve thousand members have broken away from the United Methodist Church amidst ongoing disputes against the church’s ‘Regionalization Plan.’
The new breakaway members are from five counties in Liberia.
The decision to break away came as an immediate response to the United Methodist Church in Liberia.
Some of those who broke away come mainly from the Weala District Conference of the United Methodist Church, Liberia Annual (UMC/LAC).
The decision was announced on Sunday, January 19, 2025, and presented through a five-count resolution.
The breakaway members presented their counts during the conclusion of the 27th annual conference of the Weala District Conference in Bong Mines, Bong County.
The Weala District Conference of the UMC covers five counties, including Montserrado, Margibi, Gbarpolu, Bassa, and Bong.
It has approximately 14,000 members, of which over 12,000 have decided to break away.
Our correspondent says the members are from about 41 different United Methodist churches.
The split in the United Methodist Church in Liberia is not the first of its kind.
This latest action is derived from the United Methodist Church’s worldwide decision to accept regionalization in the church’s doctrine and teachings.
Regionalization in the church allows different regions to adapt their practices and ministries to the needs of their local areas.
It is also a way for the church to respond to differences in conditions and changes in different parts of the world.
However, the Weala District Conference’s understanding and definition of regionalization has strictly to do with same-sex marriage, gay activities, or homosexuality in the church.
This has led to the mass exodus from the United Methodist Church.
The district further says the UMC Bishop Samuel Jerome Quire, Jr., has made a U-turn, completely differing from the Biblical Teachings of Jesus Christ after his return from an international Methodist Conference in the United States of America.
At that conference, the district lamented that the decision on regionalization was reached.
But Bishop Quire’s explanation of regionalization in the church is to customize the practice of the ministry according to people’s cultures in their regions.
On Sunday, January 19, 2025, he delivered the closing sermon of the 27th annual conference of the Weala District Conference in Bong Mines, Bong County, and tried to clarify the matter.
He delivered the sermon on the theme: ” Do not walk away from God.”
He argued that regionalization states nothing about same-sex marriage in the church.
According to him, he did not have a voting right as a bishop when the decision was made in the United States, where he was present at that moment.
He informed the church that there was an amendment in the definition of marriage in the church, making it two definitions.
According to him, one of the definitions is that marriage is a union or relationship between two adults, and another considers marriage to be a union between two consenting adults.
He told them that the United Methodist Church in Liberia will only consider the first definition of marriage which says a man and a woman and nothing else.
He assured them that there is nothing that can make him practice anything about same-sex or agree for the church to practice it in Liberia.
Bishop Quire also encouraged the Church members to stay in the church instead of walking away from God.
He warned them that walking away from God is not a good idea and that people should remain firm in their faith in God.
Notwithstanding, the Weala District Conference churches and their members were determined to walk away.
One of the five counts in the resolution of the disenchanted Methodist Members states: “That due to [the ] decision of the General Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, where gay and lesbian persons can be ordained and consecrated as bishop and pastors in the world-wide United Methodist Church UMC, the Weala District Conference [will] no [longer do] business with the United Methodist Church and any entity thereof.”
