Early Missionary Work of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society (DFMS) of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Liberia and Their Differential Effects 1821-1871

Abstract

The leadership approach and conflict resolution styles used by early missionaries to evangelize and plant the Protestant Episcopal Church among the native peoples and black emigrants of Liberia have helped to produce a more dependent and westernized Episcopal Church in Liberia.

This study is a critical and evaluative exercise that describes the differential effects that the early missionary work of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church had among indigenous/natives and the settlers/colonists societies in Liberia, from 1821 to 1871. This project will seek to uncover the strategies implemented and the results attained by the early American missionaries who struggled to plant the Protestant Episcopal Church among indigenous Africans and black emigrants in early 19th century Liberia. The native peoples, black returnees from America and white missionaries, each, played a significant role during the early years of missionary activities in Liberia. While the missionary efforts of the DFMS to evangelize and establish the Episcopal Church in Liberia is applauded, we also criticize the approach and method used to institutionalize the Protestant Episcopal Church USA in Liberia, without much alteration or revision.