Mission leadership in the Cote d'Ivoire Yamoussoukro Mission report that the Africa West Area has organized a member group in the capital city of Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou. Moreover, authorization for the member group to become an official branch was also reportedly received from the area presidency. Burkina Faso has been assigned to the Cote d'Ivoire Yamoussoukro Mission and mission leadership have visited members in Ouagadougou. However, the official branch has not yet appeared to have been organized. The Church is not officially registered with the government at present, but registration appears likely to be obtained in the near future. The first convert baptisms have also recently occurred in Burkina Faso as prospective members have been taught by full-time missionaries over the internet.
The establishment of the Church in Burkina Faso has been long overdue given widespread religious freedom, a sizable Christian minority, small numbers of Burkinabe who have joined the Church abroad, and relatively close accessibility to neighboring countries with a Church presence. Approximately 20 million people live in Burkina Faso. The population is 60% Muslim and 30% Christian. Burkina Faso numbers among two other West African countries where the Church has recently established an official presence (Senegal in 2016, Mali and Guinea in 2017). There remain several countries in the region without an official Church presence and no known member groups or branches, such as Chad, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, and Niger.
7 comments:
Great news!
The work just keeps progressing!
Burkina Faso has some scary terrorist elements but hopefully Church members will be safe. The work must go forward in Mali, then Niger and Chad, Central African Republic...
There are a lot of areas in the world that are very scary and that I've wondered for many years how the barriers would come down. Countries such as Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt (just to name a few). This is the Lord's work and He is hastening it, but it still takes time. As long as we keep doing what we can to build Zion, it will be fun to see it unfold.
On the other hand considering that outside Youmoussoukro and Daloa there are not yet stakes anywhere in Ivory Coast besides Abijan I can understand the hesitancy to take on another country.
Of course the big question is when will we see in west Africa what we have seen in central and east Africa with the organization of the Cameroon, Ethiopia and Tanzania missions.
Maybe next year we will see Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Senegal each get their own missions.
One thing that will interest me is where they will draw the new mission presidents for Csmeroon, Ethipia and Tanazanua from. We are finally to a point where the mission presidents are not overwhelmingly Americans.
With the late 1990s changes in temple presidents, mission presidents are the calling least filled by local leaders.
I always wonder if maybe we should not transition to having most mission presidents called from the mission they will serve.
While it would take some time to create a list off all mission presidents called to serve where they reside it is still a rare occurence. On the other hand at least 75% of temple presidents are called from where they live maybe more.
Even in countries like Venezuela where mission presidents are all called from that country they are rarely called to preside where they reside.
I have seen in in Paris France, Salt Lake City and the West Indies. Also I believe Hong Kong, Haiti, Tonga, Samoa, Indonesia and Ivory Coast. Elder Dube presided over his home as president of the Zimbabwe mission.
Mission presidents and their backgrounds may be key indicators of worldwide church growth, but overall growth perhaps is more indicative by overall senior missionaries. And it would be awesome to have more reporting on them and their missions.
And, as requested by the Lord and Church leaders, more should serve. Do we all know people who could serve but don't?
I think it would be great to have a new updated "Marvelous Work and a Wonder" 21st century style book, with more stats but also more "transparency" about Church funds and finances.
LeGrand Richards did a great job so many decades ago, some things have changed and expanded since.
Here's hoping for a "Marvelous Work and a Wonder--Continued" by an apostle or other qualified official. David Nielsen and his family could certainly gain some things from it, as the rest of us and the world.
Happy 2020 and bicentennial of the first vision.
Senior missionaries may reflect Church growth but my limited experience in Mexico taught me that senior missions are outside of many members dreams.
To serve a senior mission you need to be healthy and able to live off savings. There may be mechanisms for the unhealthy to fund those unable to survive on savings.
There are stake service missionaries who do much the same thing on a more local level and can do it while still employed.
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