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His introduction at UNIBOA 17th National Convention in Woonsocket, Rhode Island by
The Rev. Dr. John G. Innis, Bishop of
The United Methodist Church, was born September 16,
1948, to Philip Dwah and Conwreee Innis in Nipu,
Number District, Grand Bassa County. He obtained his
elementary and secondary education from Camphor United
Methodist Mission in Tubmanville and the Bassa High
School respectively, in Grand Bassa County. He later
enrolled at the University of Liberia in 1973 after
teaching for two years at Camphor Mission. Bishop
Innis earned a B.Sc. degree in Education in
1977 from the William V. S. Tubman Teachers' College.
Upon his graduatiion from the University of Liberia,
he again returned to Camphor Mission in 1978 as
principal aand served for an additional eight years.
In 1985, he was awarded a Crusade Scholarship for
post-graduate work at the Saint Paul School of
Theology in Kansas City, Missouri, where he obtained a
Master of Divinity Degree (M.Div.) in 1988.
Dr. Innis returned to Liberia in June of the same year
and again resumed work at Camphor, this time as
director the mission station and pastor of the
Garfield Memorial United Methodist Church in
Tubmanville. During the height of the Liberian Civil
War which started in December 1989, the mission
station became a place of refuge for thousands of
displaced persons. Rev. Innis was the spoke person and
strong defender for the displaced people. The
campus remained opened until 1993 when it was raided
by rebels and Rev. Innis was severely beaten and
almost killed in the pprocess. He was, in 1964,
appointed as Administrative Assistant toe the
incumbent United Methodist Bishop, the Rev. Dr. Arthur
F. Kulah. Dr. Innis served in this position until 1996
when he was employed as Executive Secretary of the
General Board of Global Ministries in New York. While
working in the United States, Rev. Innis had the
opportunity to further his academic status. He
received a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Christian
Leadership at Columbus University in Metairie, near
New Orleans, Louisiana, and a Coctor of
Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Church Administration from the
Institute of Christian Works, Burlington, Washington.
Our guest speaker was ordained deacon in The United
Methodist Church in 1989 in Greenville, Sinoe County
and an elder in 1991 at the Miller McAllister United
Methodist Church in Ganta, Nimba County. He was
elected bishop on the first ballot at the West Africa
Central Conference of The United Methodist Church held
in Monrovia at the First United Methodist Church in
December 2000 and assigned to the Liberia Area of The
United Methodist Church. In 2003, he was additionally
assigned to the Ciote Area of The United Methodist
Church as the presiding bishop until the election of
an Ivorian Bishop, Rev. Boni in March of 2005.
Dr. Innis has traveled extensively throughout Africa,
Asia, Europe and the United States. His first book, By
The Goodness of God, his autobiography, was published
in September 2003 by the United Methodist Publishing
House, Abingdon Press. Bishop Innis is serving as
Vice President of the Liberia Council of Churches and
is also President of the Central Conferences College
of Bishops. The Phillipines, Africa and Europe make up
the Central Conferences.
Bishop John G. Innis is married to Irene Janjay Zeon
and God has blessed their union with four children:
Chenda, a graduate student at Wesley Theological
Seminary, Janjay, an undergraduate at the University
of Massachusetts at Amherst; and Bleejay and Blason,
both high students at North High School in Worcester,
MA.
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