The Church in Ghana
Ghana initially received the restored gospel in the 1960s when Ghanaians discovered literature about the Church, believed the doctrines they found, and began sharing their new faith. They petitioned the Church to send missionaries so they could be baptized, and the first missionaries arrived in 1978. West Africa’s first temple, the Accra Ghana Temple, was dedicated in 2004.
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History of the Church in Ghana
Latter-day Saints in Ghana exemplified incredible patience by continuing in faith even amidst opposition. In the 1960s, several Ghanaians read the Book of Mormon, gained testimonies, and began to petition Church leaders to organize branches in Ghana. A policy preventing priesthood ordination for men of Black African descent made it difficult to provide sufficient leadership for branches in West Africa. Undeterred, local believers, including R. A. F. Mensah, J. W. B. Johnson, and Rebecca Mould, established independent congregations and awaited the day when the Church would organize branches in Ghana.
In 1978, Church President Spencer W. Kimball received a revelation extending priesthood ordination to all worthy men and directed that missionaries be sent to Ghana. Hundreds of believers were baptized, branches were organized, and a mission was established. For the next decade, the Church grew in Ghana at an accelerated pace.
In 1989–90, the government banned the activities of several religious organizations, including the Church. For more than a year, Ghanaian Saints continued to practice their faith in their homes. After the freeze ended, Saints continued to work to share the gospel and to build the Church. In 1998, Church President Gordon B. Hinckley visited Ghana and announced that a temple—the first in West Africa—would be built in Accra. The Accra Ghana Temple was dedicated in 2004.
Stories of Faith
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Notes
- Goldberg, James. “Witnessing the Faithfulness: Official Declaration 2.” Revelations in Context series, May 25, 2016, history.lds.org.
- Haws, J. B. “The Freeze and the Thaw: The LDS Church and the State in Ghana in the 1980s.” In The Worldwide Church: Mormonism as a Global Religion, edited by Michael A. Goodman and Mauro Properzi. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center, 2016, 21–48.
- Kissi, Emmanuel Abu. Walking in the Sand: A History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Ghana. Edited by Matthew K. Heiss. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 2004.
- LeBaron, E. Dale, ed. “All Are Alike unto God”: Fascinating Conversion Stories of African Saints. Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1990.
- Mabey, Rendell N. and Gordon T. Allred. Brother to Brother: The Story of the Latter-day Saint Missionaries Who Took the Gospel to Black Africa. Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1984.
- Maki, Elizabeth. “‘A People Prepared’: West African Pioneer Preached the Gospel before Missionaries.” Pioneers in Every Land series, Apr. 21, 2013, history.lds.org.
- Pace, Glenn L. Safe Journey: An African Adventure. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2003.
- “‘You Can’t Close My Heart’: Ghanaian Saints and the Freeze.” Pioneers in Every Land series, Jan. 6, 2016, history.lds.org.
- “Rare Footage of First Baptisms in West Africa: Ghana and Nigeria 1978.” Pioneers in Every Land series, June 8, 2015, history.lds.org.