19th Temple Guard: The Rt. Honourable Rev. George Lisle

A Temple Guardian Holder of A Lamp:

The Right Honourable, Deacon George Lisle

George Lisle, Liele, or Leile, or George Sharp  was born in 1750 and ascended sometime during the year of 1820.  He was an African American and emancipated slave who became the founding pastor of First Bryan Baptist Church and First African Baptist Church, in Savannah, Georgia (USA).

Liele was born into slavery in Virginia, but by 1752,  was taken to Georgia. As an adult he was converted to Baptist Christianity by Rev. Matthew Moore of Burke County, Georgia, in 1777.

Liele was freed by his master Henry Sharp, also a Baptist and Loyalist, before the American Revolution began. Sharp died in battle as a Tory major on March 1, 1779. Liele went to Savannah, Georgia and helped organize an early Baptist congregation.

After the Revolution had ended, Liele chose to leave with the British to ensure his freedom rather than risk reenslavement in the American South. He migrated to Jamaica with his wife Hannah and their four children and became the first American missionary, leaving in 1782 for Jamaica and also became the first Baptist missionary in Jamaica. He preached at the racecourse at Kingston, Jamaica and attracted considerable attention. Liele was soon able to gather a congregation and purchase a piece of land about a mile from Kingston, where he gradually built a chapel.

To support his work, and expand it, Liele sought support from London. He was helped in this endeavour by Moses Baker, who arrived in Jamaica from the United States in 1783. He converted to Christianity and was baptised by Liele.

Both of these men were attached and affiliated directly to the Ethiopianism movement that was beginning to sweep Africa & the Black America at that time. In 1792 Liele penned the church covenant, and by 1794 along with Moses baker, both had simultaneously established Ethiopian Baptists Church's on the Jamaica.

The Credentials and Significance:

George Lisle, success in Jamaica was based upon his African-centred ministry that was a product of his times, when African’s all over the world, were beginning to see and interpret the Holy Scripture and the Gospel in particular through Ethiopian spectacles, called Ethiopianism.  His contribution to the struggle against the oppressive Christian world is also unparalleled, as his Baptist movement initiated in Jamaica, eventually gave us Sam Sharpe and Paul Bogel, two other Temple Guards and two national Hero’s of Jamaica.