The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Sierra Leone refers to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and its members in Sierra Leone. In 2022, Sierra Leone ranked as having the third most LDS Church members per capita in Africa, behind Cape Verde and Liberia.[1]
The first official meeting of the LDS Church in Sierra Leone was held in Goderich in January 1988, with the first LDS missionaries arriving in May of that year. They were under the Liberia Monrovia Mission. A district was organized in Freetown in 1990. At various times in the 1990s, missionaries were withdrawn due to the civil war in the country. In 1991, the Liberia Monrovia Mission was discontinued and Sierra Leone was placed under the Accra Ghana Mission. The first LDS-built meetinghouse in the country was completed in Bo in 2004. In 2007, the Sierra Leone Freetown Mission was created covering both Sierra Leone and Liberia.[2] In December 2012, Jeffrey R. Holland created the first LDS stake in Sierra Leone in Freetown. In 2013, Liberia was split off to be its own separate mission.
A brief history can be found at Deseret News 2010 Church Almanac (Country Information: Sierra Leone)
The Freetown Sierra Leone Stake was organized on December 2, 2012, making it the 3,000th stake in the LDS Church. As of December 2023, Sierra Leone had the following stakes and districts:
Stakes and Districts
| Stake/District | data-sort-type=date | Organized | Mission |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bo Sierra Leone East Stake | 1 Jun 2014 | Sierra Leone Bo | |
| Bo Sierra Leone North Stake | 27 Nov 2016 | Sierra Leone Bo | |
| Bo Sierra Leone West Stake | 28 Feb 1992 | Sierra Leone Bo | |
| Freetown Sierra Leone Stake | 5 Nov 1991 | Sierra Leone Freetown | |
| Freetown Sierra Leone East Stake | 3 Dec 2017 | Sierra Leone Freetown | |
| Freetown Sierra Leone Hill Station | 10 Dec 2023 | Sierra Leone Freetown | |
| Kenema Sierra Leone Stake | 25 Nov 2012 | Sierra Leone Bo | |
| Kissy Sierra Leone Stake | 21 Aug 2011 | Sierra Leone Freetown | |
| Kossoh Town Sierra Leone Stake | 16 Mar 2014 | Sierra Leone Freetown | |
| Makeni Sierra Leone District | 21 May 2017 | Sierra Leone Freetown | |
| Moriba Town Sierra Leone District | 26 Jun 2022 | Sierra Leone Bo | |
| Wellington Sierra Leone Stake | 10 Oct 2021 | Sierra Leone Freetown |
Congregations in Sierra Leone not part of a stake or district include:
The Sierra Leone Freetown Mission Branch serves families and individuals in Sierra Leone that is not in proximity of a meetinghouse.
After two of its members died during the 2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak, the LDS Church required its missionaries to remain in their apartments as a precautionary measure.[3] [4] Then on August 1, 2014 the LDS Church announced that it would transfer all of its 274 missionaries out of Sierra Leone and Liberia, thereby closing the Sierra Leone Freetown Mission for the duration of the outbreak.[3] [4] [5]
On October 5, 2019, the Freetown Sierra Leone Temple was announced by church president Russell M. Nelson.