From bustling industrial centers of Great Britain, to rich green paddocks of Ireland, to the vast and diverse continent of Africa, the Church is "coming of age."
The United Kingdom/Ireland/Africa Area includes lands where there have been fertile mission fields, but where years ago roots were slow to take hold because Latter-day Saints emigrated to help build the Church in the American West. Today, however, roots are growing deeply in the soil of the countries of this geographical area of the Church, and work is moving forward at a quickened pace.Presiding over the vast United Kingdom/Ireland/Africa Area, which covers about 10 percent of the world's total land area, are Elder Jack H. Goaslind and his counselors, Elders Spencer H. Osborn and Alexander B. Morrison, all of the First Quorum of the Seventy. They administer Church affairs in England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and most countries of Africa, which were part of the Europe Area when areas of the Church were first announced in 1984. Last August, the British Isles/Africa Area was created, along with three other new areas. In December, the name was changed to the United Kingdom/Ireland/Africa Area.
In some parts of the area, Church members are pioneers in their home countries; some not only are the first converts in their families, but also in their nations, cities and villages. However, by no means is the Church a newcomer to the area as a whole.
In 1987, members in the British Isles commemorated the 150th anniversary of the beginning of missionary work in England in 1937. From England, the gospel spread throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland. Missionary work began in Scotland in 1839, followed by the opening of the work in Ireland in July 1840 and in Wales in October 1840.
Elder Goaslind and Elder Osborn said today's England - particularly London - is a "a gathering spot for all nations."
They said people go to London from throughout the world to study or on business. Many of them come into contact with the Church for the first time and are taught the gospel. In the past two years, Elder Goaslind said, the England London and the England London South missions have baptized people from 27 nations. Many of those converts return to their homes in Africa and other parts of the world, taking the message of the gospel with them.
Elder Morrison, before his call to the First Quorum of the Seventy, had contact with the peoples of Africa through his Canadian government post and through the World Health Organization, with which he has been affiliated for many years. he described the typical African convert as "bright, intelligent, industrious and eager to learn and serve."
Elder Goaslind said that throughout the United Kingdom/Ireland/Africa Area, he and his counselors "are looking at some positive things that brighten hopes."
There are some things that have really stood out," he related. "We have outstanding priesthood leaders who have excellent vision and a sincere desire to forward the work. We also have tremendous auxiliary leaders.
Our youth leaders have a desire to foster activities for young people; they have some marvelous things going on. I think I've seen more excitement for young adults and single adults in the British Isles and Ireland than any place I've been.
Elder Osborn and I were just talking about the outstanding support the sisters give to priesthood leaders, and the keen interest that the sisters have here in the Church and its growth. I don't think you could find any place where the sisters give more support and do more than they do here."
Elder Goaslind said most members in the area have more than one calling. "They are handling four or five jobs, and are home teaching or visiting teaching 10 families, but they are never complaining," he said. "They are happy to serve.
"The leadership is the best I have ever seen. Stake conference talks are superb. Missionary work is on the increase and retention of converts is taking a whole new trend, as a result of the combining of efforts by full-time and stake missionaries."
Three area committees have been organized and are functioning in the British Isles. The area youth committee is looking at the needs of young people. The public communications committee is trying to determine how to involve the news media to help lift the image of the Church and promote missionary work. The welfare committee is studying challenges that members are facing.
The area presidency recently completed visits with every stake presidency, spending two hours with each stake president and his counselors. "We have been listening and learning from each other," said Elder Goaslind. "It's exciting to be with them and see what they are coming up with to help members develop spiritually."
Throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland in the early days, the Church managed to gain a strong toehold with large numbers of converts. However, emigration plucked thousands of new Latter-day Saints from their homelands. English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh saints became the core of the Mormon pioneer movement that settled the Great Salt Lake Valley. Some historians note there were more members from the British Isles than there were in the British Isles.
But things have now changed. Members have "staying power," and there is power in their staying, as is seen in the 364 wards and branches, 40 stakes, eight missions and two districts in these island areas to accommodate some 142,000 members.
Evidence that the Church is "coming of age," particularly in the United Kingdom and Ireland, is found in the presence of third- and fourth-generation LDS families. Elder Alexander Cumming, regional representative in the Edinburgh Scotland and Belfast Ireland regions, said, "We are beginning to see grandparents in the congregation with their grandchildren. Over the years, we've had problems of emigration, but in the last decades that has slowed dramatically."
Elder Cumming knows firsthand the pride of being a "three-geneeration" LDS family. His grandson, David Harrison McGregor Niven, was blessed last month in the Thornley Branch, Paisley Scotland Stake.
Africa also has multi-generation LDS families, particularly in South Africa, where missionaries first arrived in 1853. By 1865 most members and missionaries had left and the country wasn't opened to missionary work again until 1903.
For decades after missionary work resumed on the continent, most of the emphasis was placed on South Africa. In the past 10 years, however, - since the revelation on the priesthood to be conferred upon all worthy male members - the Church has become established also in Swaziland, Namibia, Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Zimbabwe, and Zaire.
In all of Africa, there are about 31,000 members in 117 wards and branches, five stakes, six missions, and 19 districts.
In some African nations where missions and branches are springing up, the challenge is not in how to find people to teach but in how to teach the great numbers who already are interested in hearing the gospel message.
One example of Church growth in Africa is found in the Zaire Kinshasa Mission, which was created July 1, 1987. When the Church was granted legal status there on Feb. 12, 1986, only a handful of members lived in that central African nation. Mission Pres. R. Bay Hutchings said when missionaries went into Zaire, they "found a people so thirsty for the gospel that investigators were taught in groups - there was not time to teach them one by one."
The United Kingdom/Ireland/Africa Area presidency has responsibility over some 49 countries, republics, dominions and principalities on and around the the continent of Africa. Members are known to reside in 39 of those countries; however, the Church has not been organized in all 39 of those countries.
The countries along the northern strip of Africa - some of which are Mediterranean nations - are in the Europe Area.
Young men and young women from throughout the United Kingdom/Ireland/Africa Area are serving full-time missions in greater numbers. For example, Ireland Belfast Mission Pres. Don Gull said more young people from Ireland are serving missions abroad. "Most are serving in Great Britain, but you will find them in many places. Some are serving in Conecticut, my home state. Two missionaries from Ireland are serving in California; and we have two in Canada."
The same type of report can be found throughout the area. When young Latter-day Saints leave England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales or Africa today, they aren't leaving home as emigrants to find new lands to settle. They are going to work in the fields abroad, where they plant seeds of the gospel.
*****
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
United Kingdom/Ireland/Africa Area profile
Area: 9,601,274 sq. miles (10.4 percent of world total)
Population: 492,776,000 (10.1 percent of world total)
Church members: 173,060 (2.7 percent of Church membership)
Total number of nations in area: 51
Missions: 14
Stakes: 45
Districts: 21
Wards, branches: 481