Mbuji-Mayi Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple
The Mbuji-Mayi Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple is among the twenty temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints President Russell M. Nelson announced during his closing remarks in the October 2023 general conference.
Mbuji-Mayi is the second largest city in the country and the capital of Kasai-Oriental Province, located in the south-central area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The temple will be the fourth house of the Lord in the country. The three other temples are located in Kinshasa, Lubumbashi, and Kananga.
As of September 2023, Church membership in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is over 100,000 in 270 congregations.
- In the 1960s, several Congolese converts who had been baptized outside the country returned to their homeland and began petitioning Church headquarters to send missionaries to their country. In 1979, after receiving several letters from the country, Church President Spencer W. Kimball sent Oscar McConkie, a Church attorney, to explore the possibility of organizing the Church in Zaïre (later renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo).
- Although legal registration took nearly seven years, early converts met together in small groups and shared their faith with neighbors. When the first missionaries, Ralph and Jean Hutchings, arrived in February 1986, there were several groups meeting each week. In June 1986 a district was organized, and the following year a mission was created in Kinshasa. On August 30, 1987, Elder Marvin J. Ashton of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles traveled to Kinshasa and dedicated the country for the preaching of the gospel.[1]
The mission closed briefly in the early 1990s, but through the missionary efforts of local members, the first stake in Kinshasa was created in 1996. In 1997 the first stake in Lubumbashi was formed. Civil conflicts continued in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but Church members kept the faith and ministered to each other.[2]
Location
The Mbuji-Mayi Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple is currently in the planning stages. No location has been announced.
Temples in Africa
- Aba Nigeria Temple
- Abidjan Ivory Coast Temple
- Accra Ghana Temple
- Antananarivo Madagascar Temple
- Beira Mozambique Temple
- Benin City Nigeria Temple
- Brazzaville Republic of the Congo Temple
- Calabar Nigeria Temple
- Cape Coast Ghana Temple
- Cape Town South Africa Temple
- Durban South Africa Temple
- Eket Nigeria Temple
- Freetown Sierra Leone Temple
- Harare Zimbabwe Temple
- Johannesburg South Africa Temple
- Kananga Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple
- Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple
- Kumasi Ghana Temple
- Lagos Nigeria Temple
- Luanda Angola Temple
- Lubumbashi Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple
- Mbuji-Mayi Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple
- Monrovia Liberia Temple
- Nairobi Kenya Temple
- Praia Cape Verde Temple
