Membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is growing at a faster rate on the continent of Africa than anywhere else in the world.
In the southeast area of Africa, 11,000 people joined the Church last year, which is about 4 percent of growth church wide. Fifteen new stakes (a group of congregations under the direction of an ecclesiastical leader such as a diocese) are expected to be created in the area in 2015.
Some of the countries in the southeast area where the Church is flourishing include Botswana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
New Stakes
Mozambique has two new stakes, the first was created in February 2015. “It was a very emotional experience,” said Joao Castenheira, a stake president who was called to preside over congregations in Maputo, the country’s largest city and capital.
President Castenheira said the Church’s focus on the family is a big factor in recent membership growth. “The members of Maputo look for a church that brings them happiness and the restored gospel of Christ brings happiness to families.”
The focus on the teachings of Jesus Christ and commitment to follow him are a key reason for the growth, “Many people were taught about the importance of renewing covenants every Sunday that they came to church,” he said. “And many families accepted this with a lot of love and dedication. It made it so these families wouldn’t stop coming to church.”
In the past three years, 600 families joined the Church in Beira, which created the need for a second stake in Mozambique’s second largest city and the country’s busiest port.
African Pioneers
Samo Gonsalves, a leader in the Maputo Mozambique Mission, is regarded as one of the many Mormon pioneers in Africa. President Gonsalves was baptized in Maputo in 1992, seven years before being called as president of the first branch, a smaller congregation, when it was organized in Mozambique. The first meetings were held in his home. “As the Church started to grow, the people would start to see well its everyday sermons,” he said. “It’s something divine.”
President Gonsalves was present when Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles visited the area. “We came here with the apostle for the dedication of the gospel in Mozambique.”
Another modern pioneer is Antonio Mateus who was baptized in 1996. “I’m really happy to see developments of the Church in Mozambique,” said Mateus, who serves as a bishop to his congregation. “Our hope is that all of the provinces would have wards and chapels.”
“In the next 20 years, our vision is that we will have a generation of the Church with families already established in the Church,” expressed Mateus.
Jorge Mounga was the first Mormon missionary to serve from Mozambique. "I served in Johannesburg, South Africa," said Mounga. He indicated that Mozambique now has 100 missionaries serving outside of his country, "the same as the number of missionaries from outside coming to serve here."
West Africa
In West Africa, nearly 24,000 people joined the Church in 2014 or about 8 percent of the 296,000 converts worldwide. Eleven new stakes will be organized this year. “The Lord worked a lot of miracles,” said Bishop James Woolsey. “The Lord opened the hearts and minds of a lot of people.”
Many countries in West Africa are experiencing a growth in Church membership such as Benin, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Togo.
“The rate of the Church’s growth is beginning to be astounding … now everybody knows what the Church stands for, everybody knows how the Church makes people better people,” said Dr. Emmanuel Kissi, one of the original leaders of the Church in Ghana. Dr. Kissi was practicing medicine in the United Kingdom, but returned to help establish the Church in West Africa.
“Members never gave up,” said President Isaac Morrison of the Ashaiman Ghana Stake. “They were looking forward, they were committed, [and] they just want to worship the Lord their savior.” President Morrison said the numbers of youth signing up to serve a mission is showing no end.
Temples
The Church in Ghana, barely 35 years old, is still in its relative infancy, although Mormons in that country have a temple and will soon have a new missionary training center in Accra that will have a capacity of 400 missionaries.
The Accra Ghana Temple is one of three operating temples in Africa. The other two operating temples are the Aba Nigeria and the Johannesburg South Africa temples. Three more have been announced. The Abidjan Ivory Coast, Durbin South Africa and Kinshasa Democratic Republic of Congo Temples will be built in the future.
The Mormon youth in Ghana have a commitment to Christ-centered faith that includes attending seminary, an educational program for youth, at 5:30 in the morning. “I came to seminary because I want to learn, to know more about the Lord,” said one young man.
“It’s sometimes very tedious to wake up early in the morning and come all the way from the house. But then it gets interesting when we meet each other and everybody is happy and smiling, and we are coming here to learn and we know what we are learning about and the gospel fills us with so much joy,” said a young woman about her seminary experience.
Namibia
In Namibia, a country known for its rolling dunes, wild animals and Skeleton Coast, a new district (a smaller version of a stake) was created in March in the southwestern part of the continent.
Demus Makuwa was called to be the president of the Windhoek Namibia District. “What I know for sure is that my religion is part of my life,” said President Makuwa. “My religion is within me. So liberty or no liberty, no one was going to stop me [from] practicing my religion.”
The country of Namibia was dedicated for the Church’s missionary work by President Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the 1990s.
Numerous faiths dot the landscape in Namibia and a more than 90 percent of the country’s citizens claim Christianity. “Religion in Namibia I think really enjoys a very high standing amongst the Namibian people irrespective of their background whether they are white or black, whether they are Catholic or Protestant,” said Reverend Maria Capere, secretary general of the Council of Churches in Namibia.
The Church now enjoys associate membership in the council. “The main principle which really guards the Council of Churches’ unity is the lordship of Jesus Christ,” said Reverend Capere. “We did properly search and we found that it was part of your doctrine.”
Whether in Ghana, Namibia or Mozambique, Latter-day Saints in Africa are focused on one another as they serve and participate in the restoration of the gospel in that part of the world.