The Church in Angola

Angolan Latter-day Saints baptized while living abroad were organized into a group in 1992—16 years before the first proselytizing missionaries arrived in 2008. In addition to sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with their neighbors, Angolan Saints serve their communities through disease awareness and prevention programs and distributing medical supplies, such as wheelchairs.

Visit the Newsroom to see current events of the Church in Angola.

History of the Church in Angola

Latter-day Saints who joined the Church in overseas countries were the first to establish Zion in Angola. In March 1992, Carlos Ferreira from Mozambique led the first organized meeting for Latter-day Saint worship. Later that year, Maria da Silva, who had joined the Church in Portugal, succeeded in registering the Church with the Angolan government despite ongoing civil conflict. On June 9, 1996, the Luanda Branch was organized, with Vuamina Tshaka Mbenza as president.

Over the next decade, as the political situation stabilized, members of the Church in Angola continued to serve in the Church and share the gospel. They served their communities by hosting training sessions for the Church-sponsored HIV/AIDS prevention program. They also helped facilitate the distribution of wheelchairs to those who had been maimed in the civil conflict.

When the first full-time proselytizing missionaries arrived in 2008, they found a strong local leadership and a number of investigators who were eager to learn more after being introduced to the restored gospel by Latter-day Saint friends.

On April 17, 2011, the Luanda Angola District was organized, with Artur J. Miranda as president. Local Latter-day Saints worked to serve and engage with neighbors in their communities. Through times of fear and times of peace, nothing has been able to separate the Angolan Saints from the love of God (see Romans 8:35, 38–39).

Read more in Global Histories.