The Church in South Africa |
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been a presence in Africa since 1853, but for the first 125 years it was established only in southern Africa. Applications by the Church for admittance into central Africa in the 1960s were denied, but those in 1978 were approved, and growth of the Church there has been impressive.
From 1853 until 1978 most of the work of the Church in Africa was with European immigrants and their descendants in South Africa and in Northern
and Southern Rhodesia (now Zambia and Zimbabwe, respectively). In June
1978, when the First Presidency announced the revelation extending the
priesthood to all worthy male members of the Church, the way was opened
for the Church to extend its full program to all the nations of Africa.
Missionaries were sent to Nigeria and Ghana at the request of many local
people who had already studied the Church scriptures and literature and
had organized themselves into units that they unofficially called The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Church missions were later
organized in Zaire, Sierra Leone, Liberia, the Ivory Coast, and Mauritius
and Reunion islands.
The establishment of the Church in Africa began at a special Church
conference in Salt Lake City in August 1852, when President Brigham Young
called 106 men to leave their wives in charge of their families, homes,
farms, and businesses and go on missions to various lands of the world to
proclaim the restored gospel. Three were called to go to South Africa:
Jesse Haven, William H. Walker, and Leonard I. Smith, with Elder Haven
assigned to preside. Leaving their families in the care of God, they
arrived at the Cape of Good Hope on April 18, 1853, and set about to
establish the Church in South Africa, encouraging the converts to "gather
to Zion" in Utah. The missionaries faced heavy opposition from the local
clergy and indifference to their message among the people generally; fewer
than 200 people accepted baptism in the two and a half years they
served.
One of the first converts in South Africa in 1853 was Nicholas Paul, a
thirty-year-old builder who aided and protected missionaries and let them
use his home for meetings. He became the president of the first branch of
the Church in Africa, which was organized in his home in Mowbray (Cape
Town area). The 1853 missionaries also organized a branch of the Church in
Port Elizabeth. When they returned to their families in America in 1855,
other missionaries from America and South Africa were called to replace
them. Between 1855 and 1865, 278 converts to the Church emigrated from
South Africa to Utah.
No LDS missionaries served in South Africa from 1866 to 1903, and the
Church grew slowly. Missionaries returned in 1903 and served until 1940,
when they were withdrawn because of World War II. During those years 230
missionaries had worked in South Africa. Since the return of LDS
missionaries to South Africa in 1944, the Church has grown steadily there
and also expanded to other areas of Africa.
In addition to the efforts of foreign missionaries, much of the growth
of the Church in Africa has resulted from the service of local members.
Johanna Fourie instituted the Primary program for teaching the children in
1932 and spent the rest of her life (thirty-eight years) guiding and
building this program throughout South Africa.
In 1954 President David O. McKay became the first general authority of
the Church to visit South Africa. The first LDS Church stake in South
Africa was organized in Johannesburg in 1970, with Louis P. Hefer as stake
president. That stake was divided into two stakes in 1978. In 1972 Church
seminaries and institutes of religion were introduced into southern
Africa. All African countries in which the Church is established now have
these programs. The added week-day religious training of the youth has
increased local missionary participation. In 1973 President Spencer W.
Kimball pronounced a dedicatory prayer upon the land of South Africa which
included the promise that wards and stakes would dot the land and a temple
would be built there. New stakes were created in Durban (1981) and Cape
Town (1984). The first black African stake was organized in 1988 in Aba,
Nigeria, with David W. Eka as its president.
Church growth in Africa since 1978 has been much higher in percentage
than in the rest of the world. The major challenge is no longer to gain
converts but to prepare local priesthood leadership. And as the Church
continues to expand into sub-Saharan Africa, it must face the challenges
of poverty and illiteracy. In addition to contributing to famine relief
programs, the Church is helping its members in Africa to learn and
implement the principles of self-reliance and independence.
The Church has always tried to teach the gospel in the language of the
people. As Afrikaans is an official language in South Africa, many
missionaries sent there have learned to speak it. The Book of Mormon was
published in Afrikaans in 1973, and the Doctrine and Covenants and the
Pearl of Great Price in 1981. The Book of Mormon has also been translated
into several African languages: Efik (Nigeria, 1983), Kissi (Kenya, 1983),
Malagasy (Madagascar, 1986), Akan (Ghana, 1987), Zulu (South Africa,
1978), and Shona (Zimbabwe, 1988). Local members have helped make these
translations possible, such as Pricilla Sampson-Davis, a retired
schoolteacher from Cape Coast, Ghana, who translated the Book of Mormon,
LDS Hymns, and other Church publications into Akan. Translations into
additional African languages continue in process.
One of the most significant events in the History of the Church in
Africa was the dedication of the temple in Johannesburg in 1985, which has
made it possible for the members to receive locally all the ordinances of
the Church and to perform them in proxy for their deceased ancestors. The
first temple president and matron of this temple were Harlan W. and
Geraldine Merkley Clark. Although the work of the Church in Africa was
slow and localized from 1853 until the 1980s, Elder Alexander B. Morrison
of the seventy stated in 1987: "The gleaning and gathering of the children
of God in Africa is just beginning. In the words of the Prophet Joseph, it
will go forward "boldly, nobly, and independent, till . . . the truth of God
has] swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of
God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is
done"' (p. 26).
BibliographyBrigham,
Janet. "Nigeria and Ghana: A Miracle Precedes the Messengers." Ensign 10
(Feb. 1980):73-76.
LeBaron, E. Dale. "Gospel Pioneers in Africa." Ensign 20 (Aug.
1990):40-43.
LeBaron, E. Dale. All Are Alike unto God. Salt Lake City,
1990.
Lye, William. "From Burundi to Zaire: Taking the Gospel to Africa."
Ensign 10 (Mar. 1980):10-15.
Mabey, Rendell N., and Gordon T. Allred. Brother to Brother: The
Story of Latter-day Saint Missionaries Who Took the Gospel to Black
Africa. Salt Lake City, 1984.
Morrison, Alexander B. "The Dawning of a New Day in Africa." Ensign 17
(Nov. 1987):25-26.
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