The Church in Malawi

Malawians encountered the Church as early as the 1970s. Some established unofficial congregations, leading to the organization of the first official congregation in 1999.

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History of the Church in Malawi

In 1978, McDunstan A. Minikwa met missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Toulouse, France. Minikwa believed their message but returned home to Malawi without being baptized. He returned to France and became the first Malawian to be baptized on July 10, 1979. Also in 1978, McFarlane Phiri was given a copy of the bookThe Articles of Faith by a friend who was not a Latter-day Saint. He subsequently began a long correspondence with Church leaders while sharing with others the knowledge and materials he received, including the Book of Mormon.

Phiri and his associates established an unofficial congregation in Sitima Village. In early July 1992, missionaries arrived and baptized Phiri and 32 others during a brief visit. A few other Latter-day Saint Malawians who had been baptized while living abroad were scattered about the country. Some of them met with expatriate Latter-day Saints living around Lilongwe. The Sitima Village congregation was officially organized into the first branch, with Phiri as its president, on May 23, 1999. Missionaries also arrived that year to begin formal proselytizing in Blantyre, holding church services in their home. These services were attended by Leonard and Mary Nchika, two Malawians who had been baptized while living in Zimbabwe and returned to their native country in 1998.

On July 30, 2000, the group in Blantyre was organized into a branch, with Raymond Chisamboas branch president. The group in Lilongwe became a branch on August 14, 2007, led by Lyson Jerson Ntholowa. New congregations were created as membership grew. On April 10, 2011, the branches around Blantyre were organized into Malawi’s first district with Peter Chinyumba as president. Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles dedicated Malawi for the preaching of the gospel on October 25, 2011. A translation of the Book of Mormon in Chewa, Malawi’s most widely spoken language, was published in 2023. The Lilongwe and Blantyre districts became stakes in June 2024, with Gregory V. Yohanne as president of the Lilongwe stake and Gabriel Chinomwe as president of the stake in Blantyre.