The establishment of the Assemblies of God Liberia is traced back to December 25, 1908 when Jasper Toe of the Grebo tribe in Maryland County, converted to Christianity by Methodist missionaries, began to pray and ask God to send missionaries into the hinterland to minister the gospel to the people of his tribe. Accordingly, of course after many days of praying, he had a dream in which the Lord told him to go to Garraway where he would meet some missionaries that the Lord was sending to witness to his people.
So on Christmas morning of 1908, the ship anchored two miles offshore, and the party of eight missionaries were lowered over the side of the ship in a mammy chair into a life boat and ashore at Garraway. As their little boat was beached, an excited African rowed named Jasper came. The missionaries were comprised of Canadians and Americans, namely: John Moore Perkins (head), J.M.L Harrow, Evangelist William H. Johnson, Miss R. Mendenohall, Mrs. Jessie Perkins, Miss M.M. Hesley, Mr. Reid and Miss. Stebbins. Unfortunately, upon their arrival, majority of them were sick from the journey and had to stay in Garraway with the African Methodist Episcopal missionaries who hosted them.
The work among the Grebo people
The news quickly spread to other towns and surrounding tribes that missionaries hwere living in Barrobo. Without delay, some little boys came to ask the missionaries to teach them about the Lord Jesus Christ. However, many of those boys were trained and later became valuable helpers in evangelization of the interror.
Then work of mission among the Krahn people
The Assemblies of God’s work of mission among the Krahn people is very historic and started as far as 1922 through the ministry of Rev. William Johnson, a United Methodist missionary who visited the Krahn people in the town of Rhodily along with Rev. Henry B. Gailord on January 20, 1920. This visit was the first of ts kind traveling in the jungle of Liberia from Newarken, Maryland County. From the evangelistic meeting held, some of the Krahn people from the Putu section got converted, including their King, King Toe. During the 1921 Christmas convention in Barobo, King Toe of Rhodily being converted to Christianity, attend the convention, and remained in Barobo demanding that missionaries be sent to his people. He later went with Reve. Henry B. Garlock to Glofaken where the missionary was stationed with his wife Ruth.
King Toe remained there until mid-February 1922 when the missionary finally agreed to go with him to Putu after several prayer and consultations with other ministries. From Glofaken to Rhodily was a 9-day walk in the jungle of the tropical forest. Thai marked the beginning of the Assemblies of God work among the Krahn people.
Later on in 1925, a group of Canadian missionaries led by Mrs. Jessy Huston went to Konobo from Barobo and started another work. In 1928, a another group of Canadian missionaries headed by Reve Vermon Morrison, the father of Rev. Gerald Morrison, came by way of Konobo and wet to Zwedru, Tchien, for the establishment of the Tchien Mission. Thus, the Asssemblies of God had had three mission stations among the Krahn People, namely: Putu Mission, Konobo Mission and the Tchien Mission.
The New Hope Leprosarium
The Liberia Assemblies of God became a shinning start when the New Hope Leprosy Camp was established 60 miles inland from Harper, the capital city of Maryland County. This colony was “literally covered out of the gently and dedicated to the physical and spiritual betterment of its inhabitants, group lepers.” The mission was founded by Florence Streusel. However, when the eighteenth president, William V.S. Tubman of Liberia together with twenty-three of his cabinet members visited the New Hope, they were very impressed by what they saw. The president promised that the government will maintain the road. Two years later, during the celebration of Liberia’s Independence day in Cape Palmas, the president officially honored Miss. Streusel for her hard work and dedication in helping to bring smile to Liberians in New Hope.