This Month in Church History
April 2019: Dedication of the Kinshasa Temple
On 6 April 1830, a group of about 40 women and men met in the home of Peter Whitmer Sr. in Fayette, New York to organize the Lord’s true Church. The Church became known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the small group of saints accepted Joseph Smith as the president of the Church and as their prophet. The following year, it was revealed to Joseph Smith that “the keys of the kingdom of God are committed unto man on the earth, and from thence shall the gospel roll forth unto the ends of the earth, as the stone which is cut out of the mountain without hands shall roll forth, until it has filled the whole earth” (Doctrine and Covenants 65:2).
One hundred eighty-nine years after the Church was organized, the Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple was dedicated on 14 April 2019, becoming the 163rd operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was the fourth temple dedicated on the African continent and the first temple in the Central Africa Area.
The Church that began with a small group of newly baptized members in April of 1830 continues to roll forth and fill the whole earth with close to 700,000 members on the African continent alone.