Front Page Africa | July 1, 2024
GANTA, Liberia – Barely a day after some members of the United Methodist Church in Ganta chased Bishop Samuel Jerome Quire, most of the church’s members abandoned Sunday service in protest of the action meted against their bishop by some members of the Church.
Bishop Quire had attempted convincing members of the church not to break away from the United Methodist Church globally — despite the passing of the same-sex marriage resolution.
In early May, the United Methodist Church overturned its 40-year ban on gay clergy, marking a historic shift in the church’s stance on homosexuality.
After the General Conference in the US, there have been several calls from church members in Liberia to disassociate the church from the global body, something the bishop has failed to do.
The Methodist Church members in Nimba County attributed their absence from their regular Sunday service over the action carried out by congregations against their bishop.
FrontPage Africa’s reporter touring several Methodist Churches in Ganta and its environs was informed by some of the church members that they were not in Sunday’s service due to the attack perpetrated by some of their members against the resident Bishop Quire.
“We are all Methodists, no one is better than others. This is the first of its kind for a resident bishop to be attacked from the hands of the church members,” they noted.
Some top officials of the church in the county who asked not to be named expressed their opposition to the act against their bishop.
They have vowed to pursue the perpetrators and bring them to book to serve as a deterrent to those who might want to engage in such acts.
It can be recalled, members of the Methodist Church gathered on Saturday at the Miller McAllister United Methodist church in the county to demand Bishop Quire Jr to give the church’s position about the ongoing debate among the Methodist Churches in Africa and the western world about the church’s stance on homosexuality and same-sex marriage.
Responding to his members, Bishop Quire urged the Methodist Church in Liberia to reject such practice on the grounds that it’s not in favor of God, but rather against God’s way and commandments.
The aggrieved Methodist Church members also demanded Bishop Quire to call for a special session, but such request was rejected by Bishop Quire, prompting disruption of the gathering and subsequently causing some angry members to chase the bishop from the church’s edifice.
This article is republished from Front Page Africa Online. See also an article "Methodist Bishop Escapes Angry Congregants' Wrath over Gay Rights."