Liele

Mobilizing with Delight

George Liele was born into slavery in Virginia and became a Christian in 1773. He had a deep concern for the souls of his fellow slaves and was ordained as a missionary to them in 1775. Liele and many other slaves sided with the British during the Revolutionary War, along with Liele’s owner, Henry Sharp, who granted Liele his freedom in 1778. Liele evacuated the United States after the war with his family and sailed to Jamaica. He soon became a missionary to the Jamaican people, seeing hundreds baptized and organized into churches. He caught the attention of slave owners and the government, and was put in prison several times for causing a disturbance among the slaves. By 1814, Liele’s influence resulted in an estimated 8,000 Baptists in Jamaica.