In 2003, towards the end of the Liberian civil war an international evangelist received an e-mail from an unknown pastor in Liberia. In the e-mail, this Liberian pastor expressed his desperate desire to connect his people to Christ. After scouring the internet for international evangelists who might be able to come to his nation in need, he ended up deciding upon contacting ten different globally-minded ministries. He contacted all ten, yet only one ministry responded back to his plea for partnership during those dark days – Sammy Tippit Ministries.
As a result of this correspondence, Sammy Tippit Ministries (STM) ended up sending one of its staff personnel to meet with this pastor in a neighboring West-African country. As they discussed the possibilities of pursuing future ministry missions together, this pastor received word that the rebels had come to the community where he lived and that his house had been taken over by these insurgents. Pastor Gyamfi and his wife Ruth had been hiding forty-eight members of their church during this time when the rebels were pillaging and looting communities on the outskirts of Monrovia. Yet, throughout this time of turmoil, Emmanuel and Ruth Gyamfi both displayed such a powerful presence of the peace of God upon their lives and looked for ways to help as many Liberians as they possibly could.
During the initial days after the war, the Gyamfi’s focus was ever present on helping those in desperate need in their community. Over the next few years with some outside help, and by using the savings that Ruth had accumulated from her job of working for a foreign shipping company they built a a small medical clinic to service the Lower Virginia community. Then in the summer of 2008, a few Americans representing various non-profit ministries traveled over to this country to learn more about the Gyamfi’s heart and vision.
They met with dozens of Liberian pastors, local community leaders, and various government officials including the mayor, county commissioner of Virginia and the Vice-President of Liberia. Out of that trip, a long-term plan was birthed between our Liberian partners and these fellow American non-profit leaders. The plan was to begin working holistically within one community in Liberia, the Lower Virginia community which consisted of 50,000 people.
In 2009, they formed an entirely new 501-c3 and in the spring of that year, they kicked off this campaign by inaugurating assorted projects which pertained to these distinct areas of need. Over the past decade, Liberia Now has expanded its various causes including an important outreach during the Ebola outbreak which devastated so many Liberian lives in 2014. As a result, in the past ten years over 28,000 lives have been directly impacted through Liberia Now.
Early on it was decided to name this organization Liberia Now. Our belief is that the time for Liberia is, not next year or in the next decade, or in the decades to come. The time for Liberia to not just survive but begin to thrive is now.
