Getting to know Liberia

While praying and researching on people's lives in Liberia, we came across some information we did not know about this country:
There are about 3.6 million people living in Liberia (compared to 306 million living in the USA). The capital is Monrovia (named after USA President James Monroe. The official language is English, but there are other tribal languages still used.

The land area of Liberia is 111,400 square kilometers (69,220 square miles) or about the size of Oklahoma. The topography changes drastically from the seacoast to a mountainous rainforest. Many of the roads are not paved or graveled, which makes much of the country inaccessible to vehicles.

Liberia is known as the Grain Coast. It is located on the West Coast of Africa with Sierra Leon to the North (Gold Coast)  and the Cote d Ivoire (Ivory Coast)  to the south. The main income in Liberia is rubber (Firestone Tires), timber, and agricultural products. Rice farms are a staple here and green peppers. The per capita income of families is $110 (US) per year. However we learned that the Methodist clergy don't even make $1 (US) a day and can barely support their families. There are no pension plans (health or otherwise) for retiring clergy. Our UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief) has a pension program, among other emergency aid, directed towards these efforts to support the clergy families there. In addition, the poverty is so severe there that a simple notebook, a t-shirt or a pair of shoes might be the first one a child has ever received in his/her lifetime.


Liberia is regarded as the least developed country in Africa. It was formed in the early 19th century by the American Colonization Society for liberated slaves (i.e. "Liberia") to return from the United States. However, even at the best attempts by President Monroe (i.e. "Monrovia") and others, the redistribution of the new population led up to a brutal civil war between the indigenous tribes (Mandingo and other groups) and the newly colonized freed slaves that lasted from 1989 to 2003. More than 200,000 people died in this war. Many people fled to neighboring countries (and we hosted the Liberian Boys Choir at Grays Chapel during this time in 2002-03) which caused further economic devastation.

The  UN put in a transitional government in 2003 which ended the war.  The first woman President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was inaugrated in 2006. She is a member of the First United Methodist Church in Monrovia.

The seminary that we will be doing the Lay Witness Mission at is called the Gbarnga Theological School (a United Methodist Seminary). There are about 100 students. The school is still recovering from a massive damage from the civil war that ended in 2003.

Religion breakdown of Liberia is 43% African (tribal); 40% Christian (mainly Catholics, Anglicans, Methodist, Lutherans, and Baptists); 16% are Muslim.