From Servitude to Global Impact: The Story of George Liele

When I was growing up I had two Christian heroes: Corrie Ten Boom and Mary Slessor. I loved reading about their daring lives of service to others. Their strong and fearless faith shaped my own from an early age, and I relished every new piece of information about the two of them. As a little girl, when I saw two women being used so mightily by God, it made me feel like I could take on the world. I have no less affection for Ten Boom or Slessor some thirty-odd years later. Over the last several years, it has been a privilege to add even more dynamic men and women to my list of heroes. I relish the thought of a young man or woman finding their hero in these pages.

Representation matters in the Christian faith not because we want to make much of our differences but because we want to make much of a Savior who created each and every person for his glory. The more we see people from every tribe, tongue, and nation represented in the astounding story God is telling through his creation, the more we are able to visualize a bit of what heaven will be like. In bringing together fifty-two Black heroes of the faith—preachers, teachers, missionaries, musicians, medical professionals, fugitives from slavery, children of privilege, and children of poverty—I aim to tell a story of the beautiful diversity of God’s kingdom. Keep learning. Keep stretching. Keep adding stories of your own. They all—each and every one—matter to our Creator.

George Liele 

Missionary to Jamaica

(1750-1828)

George Liele and Lemuel Haynes are often known as the first Black men in America to be ordained. They have similar life stories—both George and Lemuel were indentured servants. This means that both young men served without pay for a certain amount of time during their youth and were then freed to pursue their own interests. Once their servitude ended, both George and Lemuel became Revolutionary War soldiers. However, while Lemuel was a Patriot, George was a Loyalist—someone who fought for England in the Revolutionary War. Many formerly enslaved people fought for England because the British promised enslaved soldiers their freedom.

Some records have George becoming an ordained minister in 1775—five years before Lemuel. Though the ordination date is an estimate, George is still considered America’s first Black missionary! He traveled to Jamaica in 1782, ten years before William Carey went from England to India, though it is William who is often given credit as the father of modern missions.

As a young servant in Savannah, Georgia, George helped start several churches for enslaved people in the state. As an older minister, he continued his calling by planting Baptist churches in Jamaica. He worked with both enslaved and free Jamaicans, forming connections with their masters and overseers to gain permission for enslaved church members to attend his services.

George died in 1828, leaving a legacy in both Savannah and Jamaica as a devoted man of God. Although many remember Adoniram Judson as the very first Baptist missionary from the United States, George’s rich ministry in Jamaica started almost thirty years before Adoniram’s in India.

George paved the way for so many other Black missionaries to take the gospel of Jesus abroad.