Lausanne World Pulse – Themed Articles – Understanding the Contextual Realities of the Church in Liberia, Part 2

By Jerry P. Kulah
December 2008

In part one of this article, we explored the unique beginnings of Liberia, including the fact that while Liberia is rooted in a strong Christian heritage, nearly sixty percent of the population is unreached. Why is this so, and how can we move forward?

Factors Hindering Mission Endeavors in Liberia
The advent of Christianity in Liberia is inseparable from the arrival of ex-slaves from South Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia (USA) into Liberia. Following their emancipation, the American Colonization Society (ACS) assisted in their voluntary relocation to Africa. Some of them were churchmen who looked forward to making their newfound home a Christian community. As Joseph C. Wold records, “In 1820, the Baptist Church and Methodist and Protestant Missionary Society were organized on board the ship Elizabeth,”¹ which brought the first settlers to Liberia.

Relationship between Settlers and Natives: A Poor Beginning
With regards to evangelization, the gospel had a very poor beginning among the natives. That is, the initial Christians who brought the gospel to Liberia did everything but proclaim Christ to the natives. These pioneer missionaries restricted themselves along the coast and remained socially, politically, religiously, and culturally isolated from the natives. They referred to themselves as Americo-Liberians,² meaning Africans with the prejudices and predilections—the biases and aspirations—of white men, and would have nothing to do with the natives.

Wold shares that, “(Christianity) became one of the marks of being an Americo-Liberian, which distinguished them from the tribal people. To them, it was incredible that an uncivilized tribesman, who could not even speak English, might be a Christian.”³

The settlers’ (including the Christians) only attempt to relate to the natives was to exercise political control over them. That attempt was often met with stiff resistance and resulted in warfare. A patriotic Liberian, E. Wilmot Blyden, lamenting the socio-economic, political, and religious disparity between the settlers and natives, describes the situation:

A group of returned exile-refugees from the house of bondage (USA) settled along a few hundred miles off the coast of their fatherland, attempting to rule millions of people, their own kith and kin, on a foreign system in which they themselves have been imperfectly trained, while knowing very little of the facts of the history (and culture) of the people they assume to rule…and taking for granted that the religious and social theories they have brought from across the sea must be adapted to all the needs of their expatriated brethren.⁴

Peter Falk also observes that the separation of the settlers from the indigenous population “caused a political and social difficulty and even…obstructed the evangelization of the indigenous population.”⁵

Wold provides reasons why the gospel initially failed to make any positive impact on the indigenous people, thereby laying a foundation of superficial Christianity in Liberia for many decades:

First, the wars between the pagan tribes and settlers kept the former geographically isolated from the Christians. Second, the tribesmen never considered Christianity a real possibility for themselves, because it was identified with a foreign culture. Third, unfortunately, the moral laxness and social injustices of the settlers in their relations with the tribes did not commend Christianity as a way of life.⁶

With such a poor beginning, the indigenous people perceived a negative impression of the gospel—it was not a message of liberation, but one that enslaved. Hence, superficial Christianity became a way of life for more than a century. Even today, Christianity in some major cities of Liberia still bears the brunt of a Christianity that has “a form of godliness but denying its power” (2 Timothy 3:5).

Jerry P. Kulah is district superintendent of the Monrovia District of the Liberia Conference.