The Church in Zambia

Latter-day Saints moved to present-day Zambia from South Africa and Zimbabwe in the 1940s. They organized congregations and built meetinghouses, but the government of the newly independent Zambia stopped granting missionary visas, and many of the Latter-day Saints left the country in the 1960s. Church operations fully resumed in the 1990s.

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History of the Church in Zambia

Latter-day Saints first arrived in the Copperbelt region of Zambia in the 1940s. Branches in Luanshya and Kitwe were established before 1964, when Northern Rhodesia became the independent Republic of Zambia. By 1969 the branches had been dissolved and missionary work in the country ended. Despite occasional petitions to reestablish the Church in the country, little Church activity occurred in Zambia for the next two decades.

However, many Zambians living outside of the country found the restored gospel, joined the Church, and began to return to Zambia. By 1991 several converts who had returned to various places in Zambia were asked to help register the Church and prepare for missionaries to return. In 1992, when a branch was organized in Lusaka, Johnson Makombé was called as the branch president.

The Church in Zambia has grown steadily since that first branch as Zambian Saints have “[served] the Lord with gladness” (Psalm 100:2). Since 1995 Zambian Saints have made long bus trips to the temple in Johannesburg, South Africa, to perform ordinances for themselves and their ancestors. Members in Zambia have also volunteered countless hours to serve their neighbors. For example, in 2012 Church members assisted with a national campaign to provide measles vaccines to Zambian children.

The first stake in Zambia was organized in Lusaka in March 2015. Today, there are more than 4,000 Latter-day Saints in Zambia.

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