The Liberia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, headed by Resident Bishop Samuel Jerome Quire, Jr., seems to be caught between the scissors. Whether to ratify or embrace regionalization (same-sex marriage) and enjoy huge financial support from the church's global gay community or to disaffiliate and forfeit the tempting dollar of gay Methodists worldwide, it is a decision of money vs. morality in the Methodist Church.
In public, Bishop Quire and other leaders of the Liberia Annual Conference are opposed to ordaining gay bishops and gay pastors. But personally, he is against having an independent church or aligning with the Way Forward Commission that vehemently opposes the practice of homosexuality or officiating gay marriage in the United Methodist Church.
This divide is hurting the Liberia Annual Conference, particularly United Methodists across the country, who sense a strange doctrine surfacing in the church that is totally against their cultural and moral values and the principles of the Holy Bible that they strongly uphold. What should they tell their children both in church and at home if there were an officiating gay marriage in a local church?
United Methodists in Liberia are between the rocks and the high places in making decisions that may affect the church's future. They need sober reflection and sincere guidance, which seem not to be forthcoming from the bishop they look up to amid more questions than answers.
While uncertainty looms, the stigma surrounding the Liberia Annual Conference and United Methodists is growing bigger and wider by the day, accompanied by serious public embarrassment. The prolonged vacuum is leaving room for rumors and innuendos, particularly when Bishop Quire seems not to be coming clear on a situation that is set to change the face of the United Methodist Church in Liberia forever.
The Liberia Annual Conference members are losing trust in the Bishop and his cabinet about whether the LAC should maintain the status code or regionalize. Bishop Quire has not been able to satisfy their doubts and suspicions. They are demanding explanations and clarifications that are not forthcoming.
As if this was not enough, pastors who appear to be vocal against homosexuality in the church are being replaced even before an annual conference, as it is traditionally done.
There are too many conflicting signals coming from Bishop Quire regarding this situation despite his professed opposition to same-sex marriage and the ordination of gay bishops and gay pastors.
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The Liberia Annual Conference, under the leadership of Bishop Samuel Quire, needs to act or come clear on this to ease the psychological and traumatic pains United Methodists across Liberia are being subjected to.
We caution that failure to take a definitive stance on this matter could drag the once enviable image of the UMC as an institution of inspiration and hope into the mud with unimaginable consequences, as is being indicated with police going to quell protests at churches.
