Click here to access the updated Reaching the Nations country profile for Benin. So much has changed for the Church in Benin since we originally posted this article on cumorah.com over 10 years ago. See below for the Future Prospects section of the article:
The Church in Benin has achieved significant growth within a short period of time as attested by the establishment of the Church’s first two stakes in the country within less than two decades of the first branch being organized. Convert retention and member activity rates are among the highest in the world, albeit there have been periods of time when there have been challenges with local leadership development and convert retention in the recent past. Recent experience has demonstrated that there are excellent prospects for rapid Church growth in Benin, but there is a need for strict fidelity to the timeless principles of effective missionary work—namely adequate and careful prebaptismal preparation, local member-led finding and fellowshipping efforts, emphasis on full-time mission preparation for youth, and proper mentoring and training of local leaders who are almost entirely recent converts from the past 5-10 years. The expansion of the Church into additional cities outside of Cotonou since the early 2010s is a welcome development especially given the mission’s focus during this time with the establishment of the first district in 2012 and the first stake in 2016. The creation of a separate mission for neighboring Togo appears likely in the foreseeable future, and this development may further help strengthen the fledgling Church in Benin.
5 comments:
Hopefully Benin will progress with the success of some of its West African neighbors. More temples, missionaries, unit growth will affect the. Also a mission based in Togo would be great.
For years the YSA branch in my stake has drawn heavily from the stake to the north. We are Bloomfield Hills stake and they are Grand Blanc stake. In my view both horrible names that are far too minor places to convey what the stake is. I think Detroit North and Flint-Pontiac would be much better names.
I was looking at the tools app and just realized for the first time ever a member of the YSA branch presidency comes from the Grand Blanc Stake. In the past as far as I know, and I know for sure the last 25 years, the branch preaidency/bishopric has always been resident in the Bloomfirld Hills stake. Even the one or two YSA branch presidency members they had. Other callings they have drawn more prodly. I wonder if this represents a trend of more openess in geographically where these callings will be drawn from.
The Grand Blanc stake was named for where the stake center was built, and Pontiac is where the deacon was converted and some 70 of that same church were converted. A historic building was sold, the Church physically moved out of Pontiac, and the historically named Pontiac branch is now part of the Rochester ward and they meet in a smaller meetinghouse built in the 2000s off Brewster Road.
The rumor also persisted that because of how much land was acquired in the transaction for where the Grand Blanc stake center is, that it was going to be the site of an eventual temple. As it was, that went to the extra three acres that is part of the Bloomfield Hills property, George Romney and the Snow family person put up a lot of the money for both the building and property, Romney died while working out on a treadmill, and I know some that attended that funeral there, was a few years later the temple was announced for that site. That was also originally called the Detroit Stake, and the dedication program referred to the building as the Detroit Stake Tabernacle, was remodeled around 1994
There is today a Pontiac branch. It is a Spanish speaking branch.
The city of Pontiac is split between 4 wards. 2 because Pontiac has convoluted boundaries and 2 because of deliberate divisions of the city.
The history goes like this. The building the church had in Pontiac was sold in the late 1950s and Pontiac was assinged to the Bloomfield Hills building. Then Troy Ward was created from Bloomfield Hills Ward and the saints in Pintiac began meeing at a site in Independence Township close to Clarlston where a chapel was built. About 2 years after that the Bloomfield Hills stake split and that area ended up in the Grand Blanc stake.
However if you look at how stakes are named in Ohio there are 4 Columbus stakes even though most stake centers are in the suburbs and the stakes extend far beyond the Urban metro area. So naming stakes after small municipalities where the stake center is is not the only option.
Later Rochester got a ward and Pontiac was made a branch. They met in a rented place in Pontiac. There were then issues with people moving out but also some malfunction. The Pintiac branch included a large part of Waterford Township. About 15 or a few more years ago it was deliberately divided 3 ways. Which then meant in Lake Orion Ward you had people fearful of going to some areas of their ward.
Thanks, that is more information than I had but it still clicks with the rest.
Some funny stories.
The wards used rented churches, fields, and even the Fenton courthouse. One rented building had I-beam crosses beside it, so you can imagine what would happen when a thunderstorm went through, since they met after the church that owned it was done, and yes a speaker did get interrupted regularly by lightning hitting the crosses.
At Fenton, they used the large courtroom. The bishop sat where the judge does, the ward clerk (in those days they took notes) sat on the witness stand, and those working with the sacrament used the jury box. Well, there were also railroad tracks, and the bishop knew a train came soon after the scheduled meeting end. One Sunday the high councilor spoke and went long, the bishop had to get up and say we will sing one verse and who gave the closing prayer, as soon as the closing prayer concluded, the train whistle blew.
I think they moved some stuff to Clarkston once, and one load included a piano, they were making a left turn at a mile-road intersection and the piano slid out and you know how that ended.
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