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South Carolina priest elected bishop in his native Liberia

March 16, 2026

[Episcopal News Service] A priest in the Diocese of South Carolina who also serves on the churchwide Executive Council was elected March 13 as bishop suffragan in the Episcopal Church of Liberia in West Africa. The Rev. Wilmot Merchant, rector of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in North Myrtle Beach since 2002, was born and raised in Liberia. He serves multiple leadership roles in both the United States and in Liberia, including as a member of the Diocese of South Carolina’s standing committee. and as dean of the Diocese of South Carolina’s Pee Dee-Waccamaw Deanery. He has served on Executive Council, the churchwide governing body, since 2022 representing Province IV. South Carolina Bishop Ruth Woodliff-Stanley congratulated Merchant in a March 16 statement: “I rejoice for the Episcopal Church of Liberia and for Canon Wilmot and his family. While we will hate to lose Canon Wilmot from St. Stephen’s and our diocese, we know the Holy Spirit calls us ever onward, sometimes when we least expect it. I give thanks for Canon Wilmot’s outstanding ministry at St. Stephen’s and in the diocese and look forward to supporting St. Stephen’s as they prepare to conclude such a strong season of ministry.” In 2023, Merchant was appointed liaison of the Episcopal Church of Liberia to the United States, and in 2025 he was made a canon of the Episcopal Church of Liberia. Merchant was elected during the Episcopal Church of Liberia’s 90th convention at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Bolahun, Lofa County. The Rev. Michael Tuan Sie also was elected bishop suffragan. Their newly elected appointments are now pending confirmation by the House of Bishops of the Anglican Church of the Province of West Africa. Merchant and Sie were chosen “for two additional dioceses in Liberia” that were not specified in the church’s announcement. The Episcopal Church and the Episcopal Church of Liberia have a long history. In 1836, Episcopal missionaries established the church in Liberia. The Episcopal Church of Liberia became independent from The Episcopal Church in 1979 and joined the Anglican Province of West Africa, though both churches maintain a covenant relationship.