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    South Africa Click here for the South Africa Mormon Newsroom

    70,690

    Total Church Membership

    1-in-

    17

    Stakes

    10

    193

    Congregations

    112 Wards
    81 Branches

    76

    FamilySearch Centers

    76

    2

    Temples

    4

    Missions | 10 Districts

    History

    In 1852 Brigham Young called three missionaries to preach in the Cape of Good Hope. Over the next three years, they established six branches in and around Cape Town, where members kept the faith in the face of intense local opposition. Most early members ultimately emigrated, but a few were still in South Africa when missionaries returned in 1903 after a long absence. Over the next three decades, members established Church programs in their branches and shared the gospel in their communities and in other parts of southern Africa.

    In the 1850s and the early 1900s, there were a handful of members of the Church in South Africa who were of mixed race despite the Church’s restriction on priesthood ordination for black men, but after apartheid began in 1948, Church contact with nonwhite South Africans became increasingly rare. In the 1960s, as members in Johannesburg laid the foundation for the country’s first stake, a group of black believers in the Book of Mormon who had not yet been baptized met on their own in Soweto. Racial integration of congregations and official Church activity in townships only began after the 1978 revelation extending priesthood and temple blessings without regard to race.

    Black, white, mixed-race, and Asian members celebrated the dedication of the Johannesburg South Africa Temple together in 1985. Members have brought the unique strengths of their diverse life experience to the Church, “endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3). In 2016, as the Church continued to grow, ground was broken in Durban for the country’s second temple.

    For Journalist Use Only

    Leon Holmes
    South Africa
    Mobile:  27 83 309 2482
    Phone:  27 11 969 2113
    Phone:  27 11 645 1424

    Africa

    Total Church Membership

    Members
    Congregations

    791,837

    Members

    2,559

    Congregations

    Missions

    40Missions

    FamilySearch Centers

    421

    Temples

    6Temples

    Asia

    Total Church Membership

    Members
    Congregations

    1,281,560

    Members

    2,103

    Congregations

    Missions

    45Missions

    FamilySearch Centers

    368

    Temples

    8Temples

    Europe

    Total Church Membership

    Members
    Congregations

    503,692

    Members

    1,318

    Congregations

    Missions

    36Missions

    FamilySearch Centers

    660

    Temples

    14Temples

    North America

    Total Church Membership

    Members
    Congregations

    9,551,107

    Members

    18,426

    Congregations

    Missions

    175Missions

    FamilySearch Centers

    2,819

    Temples

    113Temples

    Oceania (Pacific)

    Total Church Membership

    Members
    Congregations

    591,950

    Members

    1,308

    Congregations

    Missions

    18Missions

    FamilySearch Centers

    317

    Temples

    11Temples

    South America

    Total Church Membership

    Members
    Congregations

    4,269,273

    Members

    5,616

    Congregations

    Missions

    97Missions

    FamilySearch Centers

    1,119

    Temples

    24Temples