By Christian Appleton
Harper City, Maryland County – March 29, 2025
The Transitional Leadership Advisory Team (TCAT) of the Global Methodist Church (GMC) – Liberia has successfully concluded a transformative three-day leadership engagement with church leaders from the Southeastern region of Liberia. The event, which took place at the newly planted First Global Methodist Church in Harper City, Maryland County, from Thursday to Saturday, March 27-29, 2025, focused on discussing the core values, structure, and formation of the GMC.
This engagement is one of many that are significantly impacting the growth of the denomination in Liberia as the GMC seeks to solidify its presence in the country.
During the meeting, Rev. Dr. Jerry P. Kola, the chairperson of the TCAT, shared insights into the origins of the Global Methodist Church. He explained that while the GMC officially began in Liberia on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2025, its global foundation dates back to May 1, 2022. The denomination was born out of the frustrations of evangelical Christians in the United States who became disillusioned with what they perceived as the United Methodist Church’s (UMC) departure from biblical teachings.
Rev. Kola emphasized the GMC’s stand on traditional Christian values, especially regarding marriage and the ordination of clergy. “We believe that the church has abandoned the Word of God,” he said, referring to the UMC’s stance on same-sex marriage and the ordination of LGBTQ+ clergy. “We cannot stay in a church that endorses such practices.”
He further pointed out that there are currently three lesbian bishops and a gay bishop within the UMC in the United States, and hundreds of LGBTQ+ individuals have been ordained as pastors. This, according to Rev. Kola, prompted many to leave the UMC and form the GMC, a denomination that upholds scriptural holiness.
The GMC-Liberia’s position aligns with traditional Christian values, especially in a Liberian context, where sodomy is a criminal offense. According to Rev. Kola, since 2019, the leadership of the GMC in Liberia has been committed to maintaining biblical Christianity as their core identity. “From 2019 to 2024, we agreed that if the UMC passed laws legalizing same-sex marriage and ordaining LGBTQ+ individuals as pastors and bishops, we would leave the UMC and establish our own independent Methodist Church.”
He highlighted that the UMC’s recent decisions to redefine marriage and remove language declaring homosexuality as incompatible with Christian teachings further solidified the GMC’s decision to break away. “The policies we have stood against are now the law in the UMC,” Rev. Kola stated.
Rev. Kola also addressed the issue of regionalization within the UMC, a concept that allows different cultural practices to influence worship across the globe. “In Africa, you worship God according to your culture, in America according to theirs, and in Europe according to theirs,” he explained. “But in America, same-sex marriage is their culture, and regionalization allows them to practice this.”
He sharply criticized this approach, asserting that the Bible is universal and cannot be regionalized to accommodate cultural preferences. “Sin cannot be regionalized,” he declared.
Rev. Kola mentioned that despite the GMC’s disagreement with these developments, Bishop Samuel J. Quire of the United Methodist Church of Liberia has refused to hold a special session to report to the congregation about the changes made at the UMC’s General Conference. Additionally, Rev. Kola accused Bishop Quire of supporting regionalization and the UMC’s new policies, even going so far as to tell the congregation to embrace these changes.
Since its formation, the Global Methodist Church has grown rapidly across Liberia. With over 100 churches now part of the GMC, Rev. Kola reported that training sessions for pastors and leaders are taking place nationwide to ensure proper biblical teaching and leadership. The recent engagement in Harper, Maryland County was one of such training session.
“We are not bowing down to false religion,” Rev. Kola proclaimed. “The Global Methodist Church exists to make disciples of Jesus Christ and spread scriptural holiness across the globe.”
As the GMC continues to expand its presence in Liberia, its leaders remain committed to upholding biblical values and spreading the gospel in a way that aligns with their interpretation of Christian teachings. The ongoing leadership engagements and training sessions are part of their strategy to strengthen the denomination’s influence and prepare the next generation of church leaders for the challenges ahead.
The three-day event in Harper City is seen as a significant step in solidifying the GMC’s foothold in southeastern Liberia and ensuring that its message of scriptural holiness reaches every corner of the nation.
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