The Church of Jesus Christ and Black People 1989-1994
Eugene England's Experiences
BYU professor Eugene England recalled, "In January 1989, just before Martin Luther King's birthday, I received an unusual phone call. The voice was pleasant enough but the request a bit unsettling: 'I've just read your essay on blacks and the priesthood. Can I come and talk with you?' I said 'Sure', but as I was waiting I wondered who might still find that sixteen-year-old work troubling. It was a student, who introduced himself as a fairly recent convert from a big Eastern city, thanked me for the help my essay had given him, and told him how much he had been surprised and hurt to find, here at BYU, that most people he talked to, including professors, still believed that blacks like him had been denied the priesthood because they were 'less valiant' in the pre-existence. The next week, in BYU's unofficial magazine, The Student Review, Stuart Pace, reflecting on his interracial marriage, talked about the 'tacit racism' he has found in Provo. He mentioned 'professors and amateur theologians who hypothesized about what spiritual shortcoming prevented blacks from getting the priesthood all those years, never once asking themselves what the universal atonement's shortcoming was that prevented it from applying to all men.'
"About that same time one of my students told me of going to dinner with friends of roommates and being regaled with a story, by a returned missionary, about how a convert's skin gradually turned white after she joined the Church, because of her spiritual change. The roommates stared at their plates in embarrassment but said nothing; the regaler was completely oblivious to the insult he was giving my student, who despite her conversion remains as black as ever: and she was hurt to the point of impotent anger and silence and later to uncertainty and tears as she considered that the people of the Church she believes is true seem to believe there is a connection between skin color and righteousness. These three people, and probably thousands - even millions - of others, perhaps especially the white Mormons who believe such ideas, are being hurt, damaged, even damned up, I believe, in their spiritual progression, by a popular but false theology."
BYU professor Eugene England recalled, "In January 1989, just before Martin Luther King's birthday, I received an unusual phone call. The voice was pleasant enough but the request a bit unsettling: 'I've just read your essay on blacks and the priesthood. Can I come and talk with you?' I said 'Sure', but as I was waiting I wondered who might still find that sixteen-year-old work troubling. It was a student, who introduced himself as a fairly recent convert from a big Eastern city, thanked me for the help my essay had given him, and told him how much he had been surprised and hurt to find, here at BYU, that most people he talked to, including professors, still believed that blacks like him had been denied the priesthood because they were 'less valiant' in the pre-existence. The next week, in BYU's unofficial magazine, The Student Review, Stuart Pace, reflecting on his interracial marriage, talked about the 'tacit racism' he has found in Provo. He mentioned 'professors and amateur theologians who hypothesized about what spiritual shortcoming prevented blacks from getting the priesthood all those years, never once asking themselves what the universal atonement's shortcoming was that prevented it from applying to all men.'
"About that same time one of my students told me of going to dinner with friends of roommates and being regaled with a story, by a returned missionary, about how a convert's skin gradually turned white after she joined the Church, because of her spiritual change. The roommates stared at their plates in embarrassment but said nothing; the regaler was completely oblivious to the insult he was giving my student, who despite her conversion remains as black as ever: and she was hurt to the point of impotent anger and silence and later to uncertainty and tears as she considered that the people of the Church she believes is true seem to believe there is a connection between skin color and righteousness. These three people, and probably thousands - even millions - of others, perhaps especially the white Mormons who believe such ideas, are being hurt, damaged, even damned up, I believe, in their spiritual progression, by a popular but false theology."
The Ghanaian Freeze
In June 1989 Ed Decker's infamously absurd and sensationalistic anti-Mormon film "The God Makers," which claimed that Mormon missionaries had ties with the CIA, was shown on Ghanaian national television. One week later, citing misunderstandings of church teachings on government and race, the dictatorial government of Jerry Rawlings expelled all foreign church leaders and missionaries, barred the seventy-two native missionaries except for Joseph Billy Johnson and his wife from proselyting, and forbade public LDS meetings for any of the fifty congregations and six thousand members. Jehovah's Witnesses and two other foreign religions were banned as well, all for "conducting themselves in a manner that undermines the sovereignty of Ghana".
Abomosu Branch President Stephen Abu was escorted to the local meetinghouse by civilian authorities, police, and soldiers. They inventoried everything in the building, confiscated the keys, and warned him that members were forbidden to use this property or the church farm outside the village. Similar experiences were reported by priesthood leaders in other parts of Ghana. Members began holding worship services in their homes, which was legal, though President Abu recalled that "you could not sing loudly, or you would be picked up." He and others were jailed for accusations of violating the ban, and some members were evicted by their landlords.
Abomosu Branch President Stephen Abu was escorted to the local meetinghouse by civilian authorities, police, and soldiers. They inventoried everything in the building, confiscated the keys, and warned him that members were forbidden to use this property or the church farm outside the village. Similar experiences were reported by priesthood leaders in other parts of Ghana. Members began holding worship services in their homes, which was legal, though President Abu recalled that "you could not sing loudly, or you would be picked up." He and others were jailed for accusations of violating the ban, and some members were evicted by their landlords.
On Christmas Eve, a young priest wrote to Glenn L. Pace of the Presiding Bishopric, "Dear Bishop Pace, I am very glad to write you this humble letter. My name is Michael, and I have black hair, black eyes, and fair in complexion. Now, if I could remember [remind] you, you came to Ghana sometime ago and visited our branch. You took a lot of pictures that day and if you have got those of the priests, I am the boy wearing the black suit with an usher tag. I think you know what has happened in Ghana, but all the same I can assure you that it has been a blessing. It is good to give you a version of the story. It all happened on the 14th of June 1989. It was on Wednesday. I had just returned from school for holidays, and I was preparing myself for choir practice, which I enjoy very much. So, it came to pass that I was resting in my father's car when he called, 'Michael! Have you heard what has happened?' I said, 'No,' he then went on to tell me that the government has frozen the activities of the Church. From this, I just got up and said, 'They are joking, for no power on this earth can stop this church.'
"From that time onwards in the newspapers, and news bulletins and even in town it was a topic for discussion. We had two sides: those against and those in favor. In [sic] one occasion, a riot broke out between a member of a Pentecostal church and a non-church goer. According to the Pentecostal man, he was happy that the Church activities had been frozen and this was the reply he got from the other man, 'Mr., don't be happy. I know this church very well, I have been to Britain so I know what the Church stands for. It is the only true church on earth, and I tell you that I will be the first person to be baptized when their activity is unfrozen.' Bishop, these are the words of a nonmember. Due to what has happened, people have got to know about the Church. In my high school, on a Sunday, some students came to me and said brother Michael, are you a Mormon? I said, 'Yes,' they then said tell us more about this church and the Book of Mormon. After hearing this, I said to myself, 'This is the hour.' So I explained everything to them and after knowing something about the Church, they became happy. Many people have been inquiring about the Church and after telling them something they pledge to join the Church when it starts to operate again. Bishop, all members here in our branch greet you and your family. We like to tell you that our faith is now even stronger than before, we are praying and waiting patiently for the day we will return."
Three months later Michael wrote again, "Dear Bishop Pace, I was very grateful and humble when I received your letter dated 21 January 1990. A young boy and coming from a poor home was not expecting this sort of respect. My parents were filled with tears of joy when they heard that you have written. As I am now writing, in the dormitory of my school, I am in deep humility with tears all over my eyes. For I feel for the Church and its activities, I feel for the voice of the prophet and all general authorities. But all is not lost yet. For I know that one day we shall meet again. Concerning the members, most families hold their sacrament meetings and family home evenings but as you would expect, unfortunately, some have fallen. We usually pay frequent visits to members to strengthen their faith in the gospel due to rising persecutions especially from other churches. Bishop, I attend a Catholic school where all go to worship as the Catholics do. One Sunday, a Catholic priest was invited to come and preach, but in his preaching he totally condemned the 'Mormons.' I was there and heard it, which immediately strengthened my faith. After closing, I left the church laughing and saying, 'Lord forgive him, for he does not know what he is doing.' To tell you the honest truth, I know that the Church is true and nothing can separate me and my family from it.
"This is my message for the returned missionaries. We in Ghana know perfectly well that one day we will resume activities in unity and love to build Zion for as one prophet said, the Church is moving according to the timetable of heaven. But tell them that they should be of good cheer and work hard for he who endures to the end shall be saved. I would like to end with a quotation I usually share with my family members to strengthen ourselves and this can be found in Doctrine and Covenants 122:6-7, which states: 'If thou are accused with all manner of false accusations; if thine enemies fall upon thee; if they tear thee from the society of thy father and mother and brethren and sisters; and if with a drawn sword thine enemies tear thee from the bosom of thy wife... And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee..., if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.' This is what I leave with you, hoping to get your reply very soon in the hallowed name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen. Your Son, Michael."
The First Presidency and Council of the Twelve sent Elders Jack H. Goaslind and Alexander B. Morrison to negotiate. During this time Elder Morrison wrote, "As always, our faithful members in Ghana have obediently followed the requirement that we honor, obey, and sustain the law of the land, and they have humbly accepted the government's decision. But the flame of faith continues to burn strong and true in their hearts as they anxiously await the day when the injunction will be lifted and they can once again meet to worship God in purity and power. We have the assurance of the Spirit that that day will come soon." That day came after eighteen months of negotiation, in December 1990, when the government determined that the Church promoted racial harmony and patriotism. At this time, all of the original Ghanaian missionaries who had not married or left the country chose to complete their interrupted missions. During this lull in church activity, which came to be known as "the Freeze", members had been faithful in sharing the gospel with friends and neighbors and the Church had grown more rapidly than before.
BYU Survey
In the late 1980s Alan Cherry and the oral history program at BYU followed up the black Mormon oral history project (not to be confused with E. Dale LeBaron's African convert oral history project) with a mail survey that allowed him to ask more direct questions covering seven areas: "(1) interaction with non-blacks at church functions, (2) self-initiated socializing outside of church meetings, (3) inclusion or exclusion because of cultural conditioning, (4) perceptions of prejudice, (5) peer pressure from nonmember blacks, (6) ability of black and white Latter-day Saints to communicate and understand cultural language, and (7) acceptance by white Latter-day Saints." Questions from standard religiosity surveys were also included to compare respondents to other Latter-day Saints and to Americans in general.
The survey was sent out through the weekly Church News, and those who responded were asked if they knew of other black Mormons in their area. Eventually the survey reached approximately five hundred black members in the United States, 201 of whom responded. 81.5 percent, the vast majority recent converts, "agreed" or "strongly agreed" that they were optimistic about their futures within the Church. The survey summarized: "Most black Americans who have joined the LDS Church experience genuine and heartfelt acceptance; at the same time they have concerns over the past priesthood exclusion and latent forms of racism and prejudice exhibited by some white members." The attitudes of the 60 percent who did not respond to the survey can only be guessed at.
The Dawning of a Brighter Day
In 1990 Elder Alexander B. Morrison published The Dawning of a Brighter Day: The Church in Black Africa. It briefly described African history, culture, and challenges, as well as the Church's beginnings in several African nations following the 1978 revelation. In the final chapter he concluded that "a new and brighter day is dawning over Africa. That is my simple faith. It is a day whose light is the Son of God, a day made brighter by the glow of the glorious gospel of Christ. It is a day when the power of the priesthood of God, the power by which the universe itself was formed and put into place, is being exercised to lift, leaven, and exalt people long shackled and held powerless. The light of the restored gospel falls on a prepared people - a people prepared by the Spirit of God to receive the Word. It dispels the spiritual gloom and drives away the shackles of error and superstition that long have lain like a black shroud over the 'dark continent'...
"Why the optimism in the face of grim reality? The answer will no doubt seem simpleminded to many. The truth often does. A new day is dawning over Africa because God in His wisdom wills it to be so, and that makes all the difference. In many ways the key to it all - or at least the signal of divine intentions - was the revelation on the priesthood in 1978. That symbol of God's love for all of His children signified that a critical point had been reached in the divine timetable for earth and its inhabitants, and that the time had come to call up the last laborers to serve in the vineyard of the Lord."
"From that time onwards in the newspapers, and news bulletins and even in town it was a topic for discussion. We had two sides: those against and those in favor. In [sic] one occasion, a riot broke out between a member of a Pentecostal church and a non-church goer. According to the Pentecostal man, he was happy that the Church activities had been frozen and this was the reply he got from the other man, 'Mr., don't be happy. I know this church very well, I have been to Britain so I know what the Church stands for. It is the only true church on earth, and I tell you that I will be the first person to be baptized when their activity is unfrozen.' Bishop, these are the words of a nonmember. Due to what has happened, people have got to know about the Church. In my high school, on a Sunday, some students came to me and said brother Michael, are you a Mormon? I said, 'Yes,' they then said tell us more about this church and the Book of Mormon. After hearing this, I said to myself, 'This is the hour.' So I explained everything to them and after knowing something about the Church, they became happy. Many people have been inquiring about the Church and after telling them something they pledge to join the Church when it starts to operate again. Bishop, all members here in our branch greet you and your family. We like to tell you that our faith is now even stronger than before, we are praying and waiting patiently for the day we will return."
Three months later Michael wrote again, "Dear Bishop Pace, I was very grateful and humble when I received your letter dated 21 January 1990. A young boy and coming from a poor home was not expecting this sort of respect. My parents were filled with tears of joy when they heard that you have written. As I am now writing, in the dormitory of my school, I am in deep humility with tears all over my eyes. For I feel for the Church and its activities, I feel for the voice of the prophet and all general authorities. But all is not lost yet. For I know that one day we shall meet again. Concerning the members, most families hold their sacrament meetings and family home evenings but as you would expect, unfortunately, some have fallen. We usually pay frequent visits to members to strengthen their faith in the gospel due to rising persecutions especially from other churches. Bishop, I attend a Catholic school where all go to worship as the Catholics do. One Sunday, a Catholic priest was invited to come and preach, but in his preaching he totally condemned the 'Mormons.' I was there and heard it, which immediately strengthened my faith. After closing, I left the church laughing and saying, 'Lord forgive him, for he does not know what he is doing.' To tell you the honest truth, I know that the Church is true and nothing can separate me and my family from it.
"This is my message for the returned missionaries. We in Ghana know perfectly well that one day we will resume activities in unity and love to build Zion for as one prophet said, the Church is moving according to the timetable of heaven. But tell them that they should be of good cheer and work hard for he who endures to the end shall be saved. I would like to end with a quotation I usually share with my family members to strengthen ourselves and this can be found in Doctrine and Covenants 122:6-7, which states: 'If thou are accused with all manner of false accusations; if thine enemies fall upon thee; if they tear thee from the society of thy father and mother and brethren and sisters; and if with a drawn sword thine enemies tear thee from the bosom of thy wife... And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee..., if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.' This is what I leave with you, hoping to get your reply very soon in the hallowed name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen. Your Son, Michael."
The First Presidency and Council of the Twelve sent Elders Jack H. Goaslind and Alexander B. Morrison to negotiate. During this time Elder Morrison wrote, "As always, our faithful members in Ghana have obediently followed the requirement that we honor, obey, and sustain the law of the land, and they have humbly accepted the government's decision. But the flame of faith continues to burn strong and true in their hearts as they anxiously await the day when the injunction will be lifted and they can once again meet to worship God in purity and power. We have the assurance of the Spirit that that day will come soon." That day came after eighteen months of negotiation, in December 1990, when the government determined that the Church promoted racial harmony and patriotism. At this time, all of the original Ghanaian missionaries who had not married or left the country chose to complete their interrupted missions. During this lull in church activity, which came to be known as "the Freeze", members had been faithful in sharing the gospel with friends and neighbors and the Church had grown more rapidly than before.
BYU Survey
In the late 1980s Alan Cherry and the oral history program at BYU followed up the black Mormon oral history project (not to be confused with E. Dale LeBaron's African convert oral history project) with a mail survey that allowed him to ask more direct questions covering seven areas: "(1) interaction with non-blacks at church functions, (2) self-initiated socializing outside of church meetings, (3) inclusion or exclusion because of cultural conditioning, (4) perceptions of prejudice, (5) peer pressure from nonmember blacks, (6) ability of black and white Latter-day Saints to communicate and understand cultural language, and (7) acceptance by white Latter-day Saints." Questions from standard religiosity surveys were also included to compare respondents to other Latter-day Saints and to Americans in general.
The survey was sent out through the weekly Church News, and those who responded were asked if they knew of other black Mormons in their area. Eventually the survey reached approximately five hundred black members in the United States, 201 of whom responded. 81.5 percent, the vast majority recent converts, "agreed" or "strongly agreed" that they were optimistic about their futures within the Church. The survey summarized: "Most black Americans who have joined the LDS Church experience genuine and heartfelt acceptance; at the same time they have concerns over the past priesthood exclusion and latent forms of racism and prejudice exhibited by some white members." The attitudes of the 60 percent who did not respond to the survey can only be guessed at.
The Dawning of a Brighter Day
In 1990 Elder Alexander B. Morrison published The Dawning of a Brighter Day: The Church in Black Africa. It briefly described African history, culture, and challenges, as well as the Church's beginnings in several African nations following the 1978 revelation. In the final chapter he concluded that "a new and brighter day is dawning over Africa. That is my simple faith. It is a day whose light is the Son of God, a day made brighter by the glow of the glorious gospel of Christ. It is a day when the power of the priesthood of God, the power by which the universe itself was formed and put into place, is being exercised to lift, leaven, and exalt people long shackled and held powerless. The light of the restored gospel falls on a prepared people - a people prepared by the Spirit of God to receive the Word. It dispels the spiritual gloom and drives away the shackles of error and superstition that long have lain like a black shroud over the 'dark continent'...
"Why the optimism in the face of grim reality? The answer will no doubt seem simpleminded to many. The truth often does. A new day is dawning over Africa because God in His wisdom wills it to be so, and that makes all the difference. In many ways the key to it all - or at least the signal of divine intentions - was the revelation on the priesthood in 1978. That symbol of God's love for all of His children signified that a critical point had been reached in the divine timetable for earth and its inhabitants, and that the time had come to call up the last laborers to serve in the vineyard of the Lord."
The First Black General Authority
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After serving as a bishop, stake president's counselor, and president of the Brazil Fortaleza Mission, Helvécio Martins was called by President Ezra Taft Benson to the Second Quorum of the Seventy and sustained on March 31, 1990, becoming the first General Authority of African descent (Elijah Ables was in the Third Quorum and therefore not a General Authority).
Family Photo In July 1992 the New Era, the Church's magazine for teenagers, carried this Mormonad. |
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Requesting a Repudiation
In 1992 a recent black convert named A. David Jackson in Rancho Santa Margarita, California, was asked by his stake president to give a talk on black people and the Church. In preparing for it he discovered the racial folklore in Elder McConkie's book Mormon Doctrine and the teachings of former leaders, and was offended. He raised the issue with his home teacher, Dennis Gladwell, and then in 1995 sent a twelve-page appeal directly to President Gordon B. Hinckley, asking him to order Mormon Doctrine removed from church stores and libraries and to issue a declaration for the Doctrine and Covenants "repudiating any interpretation of doctrine that ties racial characteristics of any kind to spiritual conditions or spiritual worthiness in this life or in the pre-existence." The First Presidency sent a letter to his bishop assuring them that current teachings were devoid of racism, but this did not satisfy him.
Black Saints in a White Church
In 1994 Jessie L. Embry published Black Saints in a White Church: Contemporary African American Mormons, sharing the results of the LDS Afro-American Oral History Project and subsequent mail survey. She wrote, "According to surveys, most African Americans are still more comfortable in traditional black churches. But the fact that their ranks in Mormonism have grown to thousands raises questions about what they see in a church that previously excluded them from full participation. This is a question not only for Mormons but for the sociology of religion as well. What changes are taking place in the black community that allow some black members to leave their traditional churches and join another church with such strong ties that it has been called an ethnic group? How are blacks accepted, and how do they adapt to new religions teachings?...
"The perception of the Mormon church has been changing since the 1950s. It is generally no longer considered a 'cult'. But it has not completely broken out of its western American model, and blacks are not completely integrated. Consequently the story of African American Mormons is not without problems. Yet despite the dilemmas, most black Latter-day Saints look beyond the past to the role they can play in the church. The LDS African American experience is one of integration and discrimination, yet it promises hope for assimilation as black and white Mormons replace stereotypes with individual faces."
In 1992 a recent black convert named A. David Jackson in Rancho Santa Margarita, California, was asked by his stake president to give a talk on black people and the Church. In preparing for it he discovered the racial folklore in Elder McConkie's book Mormon Doctrine and the teachings of former leaders, and was offended. He raised the issue with his home teacher, Dennis Gladwell, and then in 1995 sent a twelve-page appeal directly to President Gordon B. Hinckley, asking him to order Mormon Doctrine removed from church stores and libraries and to issue a declaration for the Doctrine and Covenants "repudiating any interpretation of doctrine that ties racial characteristics of any kind to spiritual conditions or spiritual worthiness in this life or in the pre-existence." The First Presidency sent a letter to his bishop assuring them that current teachings were devoid of racism, but this did not satisfy him.
Black Saints in a White Church
In 1994 Jessie L. Embry published Black Saints in a White Church: Contemporary African American Mormons, sharing the results of the LDS Afro-American Oral History Project and subsequent mail survey. She wrote, "According to surveys, most African Americans are still more comfortable in traditional black churches. But the fact that their ranks in Mormonism have grown to thousands raises questions about what they see in a church that previously excluded them from full participation. This is a question not only for Mormons but for the sociology of religion as well. What changes are taking place in the black community that allow some black members to leave their traditional churches and join another church with such strong ties that it has been called an ethnic group? How are blacks accepted, and how do they adapt to new religions teachings?...
"The perception of the Mormon church has been changing since the 1950s. It is generally no longer considered a 'cult'. But it has not completely broken out of its western American model, and blacks are not completely integrated. Consequently the story of African American Mormons is not without problems. Yet despite the dilemmas, most black Latter-day Saints look beyond the past to the role they can play in the church. The LDS African American experience is one of integration and discrimination, yet it promises hope for assimilation as black and white Mormons replace stereotypes with individual faces."
The Kingdom Progresses in Africa
In the October 1994 General Conference, Elder James O. Mason of the Seventy recounted, "We heard the music and stirring words of 'Onward Christian Soldiers' as we entered the house used as the chapel of the Lagos Nigeria Fourth Branch. The singers - eighteen elders, two sisters, and one missionary couple - were preparing for their zone conference. We were impressed by their bright, eager smiles and faces glowing with enthusiasm. The single missionaries had been called to serve from homes in Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria. The couple from Canada were on their second mission...
"A few days earlier I had presided at a stake conference in Benin City, Nigeria. The stake had been created a year earlier and had grown by over 260 members, mostly families, during that period. The percentage of member families receiving home teaching visits in this large, sprawling city is well within the range of established stakes in developed countries, even though few families in Benin City own cars or telephones. Attendance at sacrament meeting in the new stake is high in spite of ongoing political turmoil and frequent public transportation disruptions. Nearly 50 percent of stake members were present at the Sunday morning session of stake conference; many families walked considerable distances to attend. A well-trained choir sang with joy the hymns of Zion. Comparable levels of participation and dedicated, competent leadership are evident wherever the Church is established in sub-Saharan Africa. Africa is truly seeing the dawning of a brighter day.
"The first stake on the continent was created in South Africa in 1970. There are now five stakes in that country. The Johannesburg South Africa Temple was dedicated in 1985. Five additional stakes have more recently been organized in Nigeria and Ghana, the first a mere decade after the 1978 revelation on the priesthood. Over fifty districts of the Church are growing in Africa under inspired local leadership. The Church is authorized to do missionary work in twenty-six of the forty-four countries included in the Africa Area.
"Growth of the Church in Africa moves forward deliberately and steadily according to inspired design. Altogether there are 80,000 members, 12 missions, 10 stakes, and 425 wards and branches. The number of baptisms during 1993 totaled over 9,000. Even greater numbers of baptisms would be possible if that were the sole measure of success. However, we are anxious that each of our African brothers and sisters be remembered and 'nourished by the good word of God' (Moro. 6:4). The Church therefore proceeds in an orderly and planned fashion. Efforts are focused to create centers of strength. The goal is to establish deep pools of leadership that will become the foundation for future Church expansion. Missionary work is concentrated geographically around existing chapels. Buildings are sited for occupancy by two or more Church units. The missionaries concentrate their efforts on converting families and potential leaders. Major attention is given to training local leadership, which is made easy because members in Africa are eager to be taught and quick to learn and abide by gospel principles.
"Nearly half of the 960 full-time missionaries serving in Africa are Africans, and the number is growing. Retired couples from the United States and Canada play a significant role. Unselfishly leaving behind home, children, and grandchildren, these devoted couples are ministering angels to grateful, loving people. Finding, testifying, baptizing, and, above all else, loving are duties eagerly assumed by the missionary couples who truly comprehend what retirement can be. These couples also provide deeply appreciated gifts of literacy, better health, and humanitarian service to members and nonmembers."
Next: The Church of Jesus Christ and Black People 1995-1998
"A few days earlier I had presided at a stake conference in Benin City, Nigeria. The stake had been created a year earlier and had grown by over 260 members, mostly families, during that period. The percentage of member families receiving home teaching visits in this large, sprawling city is well within the range of established stakes in developed countries, even though few families in Benin City own cars or telephones. Attendance at sacrament meeting in the new stake is high in spite of ongoing political turmoil and frequent public transportation disruptions. Nearly 50 percent of stake members were present at the Sunday morning session of stake conference; many families walked considerable distances to attend. A well-trained choir sang with joy the hymns of Zion. Comparable levels of participation and dedicated, competent leadership are evident wherever the Church is established in sub-Saharan Africa. Africa is truly seeing the dawning of a brighter day.
"The first stake on the continent was created in South Africa in 1970. There are now five stakes in that country. The Johannesburg South Africa Temple was dedicated in 1985. Five additional stakes have more recently been organized in Nigeria and Ghana, the first a mere decade after the 1978 revelation on the priesthood. Over fifty districts of the Church are growing in Africa under inspired local leadership. The Church is authorized to do missionary work in twenty-six of the forty-four countries included in the Africa Area.
"Growth of the Church in Africa moves forward deliberately and steadily according to inspired design. Altogether there are 80,000 members, 12 missions, 10 stakes, and 425 wards and branches. The number of baptisms during 1993 totaled over 9,000. Even greater numbers of baptisms would be possible if that were the sole measure of success. However, we are anxious that each of our African brothers and sisters be remembered and 'nourished by the good word of God' (Moro. 6:4). The Church therefore proceeds in an orderly and planned fashion. Efforts are focused to create centers of strength. The goal is to establish deep pools of leadership that will become the foundation for future Church expansion. Missionary work is concentrated geographically around existing chapels. Buildings are sited for occupancy by two or more Church units. The missionaries concentrate their efforts on converting families and potential leaders. Major attention is given to training local leadership, which is made easy because members in Africa are eager to be taught and quick to learn and abide by gospel principles.
"Nearly half of the 960 full-time missionaries serving in Africa are Africans, and the number is growing. Retired couples from the United States and Canada play a significant role. Unselfishly leaving behind home, children, and grandchildren, these devoted couples are ministering angels to grateful, loving people. Finding, testifying, baptizing, and, above all else, loving are duties eagerly assumed by the missionary couples who truly comprehend what retirement can be. These couples also provide deeply appreciated gifts of literacy, better health, and humanitarian service to members and nonmembers."
Next: The Church of Jesus Christ and Black People 1995-1998
