Greetings to all United Methodists of the Liberia Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church and those in the diaspora, Conference Executive Members, the Laity, the Press, my fellow Christians.

Following the 2024 General Conference of our denomination (the UMC) held in Charlotte, the United States of America from April 23 rd to the 3 rd of May, 2024 and the return of delegation representing the Liberia Annual Conference, there has been lots of misinformation and disinformation filtering in the air concerning the issue of same-sex marriage that was legislated by the General Conference which has the sole authority of officially speaking for the whole church.

Lay people and some clergy members have been anxious on clarity leading to the decision from the General conference about same-sex marriage and the issue of Regionalization. Considering the significance of these inquiries, and in the wisdom of the Bishop of the Liberia Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church, an immediate Cabinet meeting was initiated by Bishop Quire in the conference hall of the S. Trowen Nagbe UMC, on 12th Street, Sinkor on June 7, 2024 to address these concerns.

In his nationwide message, Bishop Quire Stated that the “United Methodist Church in Liberia is not a Gay Church, but a Church redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ to transform the world and save men and women from
their sins”. Bishop further stated that “the Liberia Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church will not conduct any weddings or ordinations of self-avowed, practicing homosexuals, the UMC in Liberia is traditional in its
interpretation of Scripture”.

Since the adjournment of this June 7, 2024 emergency Cabinet meeting, some members of the church (UMC) in Liberia have put on contentions that are deeply bringing our beloved UMC into public disrepute. This disrepute led to a public humiliation of Bishop Quire in Gompa District, Ganta City, Nimba County by some Clergy and Lay members of the Gompa District Conference on June 27, 2024. This unfortunate situation has brought shame to all well-
meaning United Methodists in and around Liberia who have been seeing this attitude exhibited by some members of the Gompa District Conference, LAC/UMC, on almost all social media.

However, Executive members of Bishop’s cabinet met on July 4, 2024 on the Katata/Farmington River District in Katata City, Margibi County, from 8:00 PM- 3:45 AM to brainstorm on how to mitigate and resolve these situations in our Church. The Cabinet has met with Bishop Quire and had a round table discussion concerning the state of the UMC in Liberia.

Most importantly, fellow United Methodists, as traditional people, we are taught to accord respect and dignity to elders and leaders of our community. We observed on social platforms that there was no respect given our Bishop by Clergy and Lay members of the Gompa District Conference when he (Bishop Quire) went to meet with them on June 27, 2024 in Nimba County. Bags of water were thrown at Bishop’s vehicle while others intended to hit on Bishop
physically.

All of us Cabinet members strongly condemn this violent behavior meted against Bishop Quire. We call on all United Methodists to desist from such humiliating attitude towards our Bishop.

We again call on all United Methodists to remain calm as the entire Cabinet has taken siege of the matter. We will meet all aggrieved parties to hear from them and jointly find a peaceful means to the problem. With our trust in God, we will again sail together with brotherly and sisterly love.

Remember, we all have one mission, “to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the
transformation of the world” (Matthew 28:16-20).

Shalom!

God bless you all.

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