Liberian president to address United Methodists
United Methodist Bishop Peter Weaver presents a Bible to
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf during a prayer service on the eve of her 2005
inauguration as president of Liberia. Johnson Sirleaf, a United
Methodist, is scheduled to address the 2008 United Methodist General
Conference on April 29 in Fort Worth, Texas.
A UMNS file photo by Joseph Zeogar.
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A UMNS Report
By Linda Bloom*
Sept. 27, 2007
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
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Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the president of Liberia, will speak to the
United Methodist General Conference during its meeting next spring in
Fort Worth, Texas.
Johnson Sirleaf, who is a United Methodist, is scheduled to address
the denomination’s top legislative body on April 29. She accepted the
invitation to speak in a Sept. 8 letter to L. Fitzgerald Reist II,
secretary of the General Conference.
"As a strong and proud Methodist and in recognition of the work that
the United Methodist Church has done in Liberia, particularly in
providing education and medical services to our rural population, I am
pleased to accept and look forward to joining you in Fort Worth on that
day," she wrote.
Johnson Sirleaf also will accept the Bishop James K. and Eunice
Mathews Bridge-Building Award from the United Methodist Commission on
Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns.
The award will be presented during an April 29 dinner in Fort Worth
and is connected with the agency’s Bridges of Unity Endowment. The
endowment was created as a way of developing future generations of
ecumenical and interfaith leaders, according to the Rev. Larry Pickens,
the commission’s chief executive.
Johnson Sirleaf "has worked to heal her war-ravaged nation" through
dialogue and community-building, Pickens noted, modeling "the commitment
to peace and community building" that symbolizes the Mathews and their
lives.
"As a strong and proud Methodist and in
recognition of the work that the United Methodist Church has done in
Liberia, particularly in providing education and medical services to our
rural population, I am pleased to accept and look forward to joining
you in Fort Worth …"
-Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
At age 67, Johnson Sirleaf became the first woman elected as head of
state in modern African history after the Liberian presidential election
in November 2005. The Harvard-educated economist and former World Bank
official is an active member of First United Methodist Church in
Monrovia, the capital, and spoke of her faith several times during her
Jan. 16 inaugural speech.
Bishop Peter Weaver, then president of the United Methodist Council
of Bishops, presented her with a Bible signed by the bishops of the
church. First lady Laura Bush, who is also a United Methodist, led the
U.S. delegation at the inaugural.
In a January interview with United Methodist News Service, Johnson
Sirleaf praised The United Methodist Church’s contribution to the peace
process in Liberia, which was torn by civil wars beginning in 1989 and
ending in 2003.
"The church has just been instrumental in promoting peace," she said.
"On an individual basis, those who go to church for prayers and for
comfort — that has all contributed to the peace. Our nation is a very
religious one, so the church has played a dominant role."
Johnson Sirleaf said United Methodists in the United States and
elsewhere "should recognize the important role, the historical role,
(that) The United Methodist Church has here that is so profound. They
should know that fact that it has continued and continues to grow in
importance and in service to the nation."
*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.
News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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Resources
2008 General Conference
Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns
AllAfrica.com: Liberia |