Latter-Day Saints Open First-Ever Temple In ‘Here At Home’ In Zimbabwe
HARARE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe’s Mormon community have a new place to worship following the opening of the first-ever temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The church had its groundbreaking ceremony in 2020, but it took six years to officially open its doors. The Harare-based temple will now serve over 46,000 Latter-day Saints who reside in Zimbabwe and members in surrounding areas. The opening of the Harare-based temple marks a deeply symbolic and spiritual milestone for Zimbabwe’s small, but steadily growing, Mormon community.
In a nation defined by profound Christian commitment, theologians said the construction and dedication of the temple shows the growth of the church in a country where many people still struggle to equate Mormons with other Christians.
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“Latter-day Saints are part of the Christian family and believe in tolerance among different religious groups,” said Itayi Chokuvinga, a Harare-based theologian. “You cannot sideline them. Over the years, their growth shows that people are understanding their doctrine.”
Located in one of Zimbabwe’s leafy neighborhoods, the temple is a modest yet elegant structure of approximately 17,250 square feet. Before its completion, members of the church in the country and the wider region had to travel nearly 14 hours by road to Johannesburg, South Africa, to participate in temple worship and sacred ordinances.
The church was part of the broader South Africa Mission until 1987, when the Zimbabwe Harare Mission was established. Congregations have grown steadily since then, expanding to more than 100 groups nationwide.
In the 1980s and ‘90s, the church grew among local populations of Zimbabweans speaking primarily Shona and English. In 1999, the Book of Mormon was published in Shona, and the first stake, a group of local congregations, in Zimbabwe was established in Harare.
“The Harare Zimbabwe Temple will be a beautiful and stunning building,” said Edward Dube, a Zimbabwean church elder who presided over the groundbreaking in 2020. “It is not only a manifestation of the faith of saints in this region, but a testament to the global strength of our community.”
Unlike regular Latter-day Saints meeting houses, which are open weekly for worship, temples are sacred spaces reserved for special ordinances and worship practices. Latter-day Saints revere the temples as there are places where sacred covenants are made, families are sealed for eternity, and members participate in ordinances that draw them closer to Christ and to one another.
The design of the Harare temple reflects a weaving of faith with local culture. Stained‑glass windows incorporate motifs of Zimbabwe’s national flower, the flame lily, and other elements of indigenous flora.
Before a temple’s dedication, it is customary for the church to host a public open house where people of all faiths and backgrounds can tour the interior, learn about the temple’s purpose, and experience its atmosphere of peace and reverence.
When the Harare temple was announced in 2016 by the then-church’s President Thomas S. Monson, there were 150 temples in operation throughout the world. Now, nearly 10 years later, there are 383 temples dedicated, under construction or announced across the globe.
For a few weeks in late January and early February, the temple welcomed the public to explore its halls. The significance of this milestone was underscored by the attendance of Zimbabwe’s Vice-President Kembo Mohadi at the official open house and related celebrations.
“The attendance of the Vice President at the temple’s open ceremony, who at the moment was the acting president, signals a respect for Zimbabwe’s religious plurality and the role faith communities play in societal cohesion,” said Michael Chiminya, a cleric at Apostolic Faith Mission church.
There are over 46,000 members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Zimbabwe, part of 318,000 spread out across Africa. The open houses, however, allowed many Zimbabweans who are not members of the church an opportunity to learn more about a faith tradition that, while relatively small, has been present in the country for decades.
A formal dedication ceremony is scheduled for March 1 after which the temple will be reserved exclusively for sacred worship by baptized church members in good standing.
“The journey to Johannesburg for temple worship was not only long but costly, a pilgrimage that required significant time and resources,” said Grace Mhandu, a church member. “But now we have the temple here at home.”
Calvin Manika is an award-winning international journalist based in Zimbabwe.