Our Daily Bread: Voices of FaithIhe Atụ

Commissioned

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations. -Matthew 28:19

George Liele was twenty-three years old when he surrendered to Christ. Not much later, his master, a Baptist minister in Georgia, freed him.

Liele became the first acknowledged African American Baptist preacher to slaves in Georgia and South Carolina. But he had to flee the South at his former master’s death to avoid re-enslavement by that former master’s descendants.

Boarding a ship for Jamaica in 1782 along with his wife and children, Liele became an international missionary. He preached to the enslaved in Jamaica’s colonies and thousands of islanders converted to follow Christ.

Liele established the Baptist church in the capital of Kingston and other neighboring parishes and extended his mission beyond the island to Nova Scotia and Sierra Leone.

Liele’s lasting influence calls forth to believers to “run and not grow weary” (Isaiah 40:31), to accomplish God’s will that has been graciously entrusted to us in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18–20). To go preach the gospel and to make disciples.

Liele did so, influencing individuals and nations with a vision for Black, White, and integrated congregations.

Buried in an unmarked grave in Jamaica, Liele died a free man in Christ. His legacy is his fulfillment of the Great Commission in the United States and the world. As Christ’s ambassadors who respond to the Spirit’s moving, we can rest assured in God’s commission and pursue our own similar assignments in the world.

QuaWanna N. Bannarbie

Where is Jesus calling you to “go” and make disciples? Whose testimony encourages you to run on?

Lord, I accept the commission to go where You lead me. Show me how to respond to Your Spirit and participate in the gospel at work in Your world.