Church of Liberia Hits Ground Running -Sets Up Sub-Committees for Bicentennial After Meeting With Pres. Weah
It’s barely four days since President George Manneh Weah hosted a meeting with the Liberian clergy superintended by the Liberia Council of Churches on the ongoing celebrations of the country’s 200 years of founding. Though both the Government and the Church traded commitments to make the celebration more nationally encompassing, some pundits had thought that since the Liberian Christian community is doctrinally heterogeneous and at times cantankerous to each other, it would not be a smooth ride getting the full, comprehensive cooperation of the Church to make good on commitments made with the Government. But it seems the negative prediction is not holding because, in no time, the Church has firmly taken hold of the Bicentennial Celebrations with both hands, quickly moving with a horde strategy sessions and setting up relevant sub-committees apparently towards making the rest of scheduled events more memorable and rewarding. The Analyst reports.
The Liberia Council of Churches (LCC) and its affiliates neither shrugging requests nor delaying to join forces in making the yearlong Bicentennial Celebrations grand and extraordinary. They have hit the ground running with plans already hatched to put up a full participation as pledged during a meeting with President George Manneh Weah.
The LCC has already announced important events lined up as part of the activities it has earmarked for the celebration of the bicentennial.
According to the Secretariat, Special Intercessory prayers will be held between February 10-27, 2022 while a Thanksgiving Service led by the Church comes up on February 13, 2022.
The Secretariat also said that for the official program of the bicentennial service which will be on February 14, 2022, several subcommittees were formed to complement the efforts of Government in the execution of the event and that all church leaders and related actors are encouraged to volunteer to serve on committees of their choice.
It was also said that the Government anticipates the Christian community will submit a Plan of Action in one week as of Friday, January 14, 2022.
Other complementary actions as announced by the LCC Secretariat include meeting of heads of subcommittees to take place on Tuesday, January 18, 2022 at 10 am at the LCC offices on 15th Street, Sinkor, Monrovia and the reactivation of Church Bicentennial Liaison Committee established in the USA in October 2019 during the visit of the President of LCC through the Liberia Ministerial Alliance for North America-LIMANA and the proposed Budget and Finance Committee headed by Bishop John Kunkun and Bishop Abraham Powell planned to meet on Monday, January 17, 2022.
The first in the series of consultation between the Government of Liberia and the Church of Liberia took place last Friday, January 14, 2022 at the Ministerial Complex in Congo Town with Bishop Kortu K. Brown, President of the Liberia Council of Churches leading an array of other top church leaders to have direct discussion with the government led by President George Manneh Weah.
According to the Secretariat of the Liberia Council of Churches, the event collated 98 heads of Churches that included Archbishops, Bishops, Apostles and General Overseers and leaders of Para-church groups, culminating into a total of over 900 persons of strong gender consideration consisted of pastors, evangelists, missionaries and deaconesses.
The meetings which were held in two separate sessions had the heads of churches first meeting with the President while the second brought in other church heads, pastors, evangelists and ministerial clergy to meet the Chief Executive of the state.
The invocation was given by the Moderator elect of the Presbyterian Church of Liberia and short meditation was given by Bishop Matthew Kantan and all the engagements were moderated by Bishop Kortu K. Brown, President of the Liberia Council of Churches.
Further details from the meeting as compiled by the LCC Secretariat had it that the gathering which mostly focused on the participation of the Church into the activities of the Bicentennial celebration saw the structuring of subcommittees and appointment of Chairpersons and Co-chairpersons, and also included committees on Thanksgiving, Consecration, Mobilization, Music and Worship, Preparatory Prayers, Protocol/venue/decoration, transportation, media, budget, and finance, first aid, entertainments, USA committee, secretariat/technical, etc.
It was also stated that recommendations came from the Church leaders and were centered around a memorial project and signs and symbols of the Bicentennial displayed at entrances from the airport as well as the Church supporting and committing service to the full implementation of the celebration void of political actions.
During the January 14 meeting at the Ministerial Complex, President Weah expressed concern about the absence of church leaders at the kickoff of the celebration on January 7, 2022 on the Providence Island. The President called on Liberian clergy to play a leading role in the implementation of programs surrounding the bicentennial celebration. He assured them of the commitment of the government to fully support the church.
Immediately after President Weah’s meeting with the church leaders, a mass meeting involving all those other invitees took place with the LCC President in attendance where Apostle Samuel Car, President of the Liberia Full Gospel Ministries and Churches offered prayer and a special statement was given by Archbishop Isaac Winker of the IWGM.
At the mass meeting, Bishop Kortu, briefed the gathering on the outcome of meeting held between the President and the church leaders.
He called for national social cohesion and reconciliation as well as all political actors to join the Bicentennial celebration for the forward movement of Liberia.
He reiterated his call for the Church to support the Bicentennial celebration and stated that he relied on the Church for the forward movement of the country.
In a similar vein, he called on all political actors and the entire nation to reconcile differences and put the country first.
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