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    Democratic Republic of the Congo Click here to visit the Democratic Republic of the Congo Mormon Newsroom

    89,136

    Total Church Membership

    1-in-

    25

    Stakes

    1010

    255

    Congregations

    216 Wards
    39 Branches

    24

    FamilySearch Centers

    24

    1

    Temples

    4

    Missions | 3 Districts

    History

    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.

    Though the mission briefly closed in the early 1990s, members continued to share the gospel. In 1996 the first stake in Kinshasa was created, and in 1997 the first stake in Lubumbashi was formed. Church members kept the faith and ministered to each other through the conflict of the late 1990s and early 2000s, working to make the stakes of Zion “a refuge from the storm” in a time of trouble (Doctrine and Covenants 115:6). During the October 2011 general conference, Church President Thomas S. Monson announced plans for a temple to be built in Kinshasa. It was dedicated in 2019.

    For Journalist Use Only

    Mpho Mokgare
    Phone:  00267 391 2667
    Mobile:  00267 7279 6550

    Africa

    Total Church Membership

    Members
    Congregations

    736,701

    Members

    2,476

    Congregations

    Missions

    39Missions

    FamilySearch Centers

    343

    Temples

    5Temples

    Asia

    Total Church Membership

    Members
    Congregations

    1,259,094

    Members

    2,110

    Congregations

    Missions

    45Missions

    FamilySearch Centers

    363

    Temples

    8Temples

    Europe

    Total Church Membership

    Members
    Congregations

    500,239

    Members

    1,350

    Congregations

    Missions

    34Missions

    FamilySearch Centers

    658

    Temples

    14Temples

    North America

    Total Church Membership

    Members
    Congregations

    9,489,479

    Members

    18,476

    Congregations

    Missions

    174Missions

    FamilySearch Centers

    2,621

    Temples

    112Temples

    Oceania (Pacific)

    Total Church Membership

    Members
    Congregations

    587,462

    Members

    1,301

    Congregations

    Missions

    18Missions

    FamilySearch Centers

    314

    Temples

    10Temples

    South America

    Total Church Membership

    Members
    Congregations

    4,232,425

    Members

    5,602

    Congregations

    Missions

    97Missions

    FamilySearch Centers

    1,106

    Temples

    21Temples