We Are Never Off Duty When it Comes to Accomplishing our Goals 

Elder Ian Ardern, in a Devotional for Africa Central Area Employees and Senior Missionaries on 17 October 2023, detailed the Area Focus and Priorities and changes that will take place over the next few years in the Area. He affirmed that each member of the Church is invited to be Disciple of Jesus Christ who strives to Make and Keep Sacred Covenants, Love Share and Invite Others to Come Unto Christ, and be Self Reliant.   These are the Area Priorities, and our focus is our Savior Jesus Christ.

Framing the Priorities and associated goals are seven insights. 

1.  Using current trends, five of the most populace countries in Africa will be in the Africa Central Area. By 2050 Ethiopia and Democratic Republic of the Congo will be two of the ten most populated countries in the world.
2. With the growth of the church in French speaking nations in Africa, French will possibly become the most dominant language in the Church.
3. Missions in the Africa Central Area will possibly lead the world in convert baptisms.  With many thousands of convert baptisms annually the Church will grow in excess of 12% per year and in the next five years the number of stakes in the area will increase by 20 to 57 stakes. 
4. The building of Temples could possibly accelerate faster in Africa than on any other continent.
5. Humanitarian projects will increase at an astounding rate, improving lives in Central Africa as Church humanitarian expenditures continue to grow.
6. By October 2026 the number of full-time missionaries serving from this Area will likely double necessitating an increased number of missions.
7. The Church will come out of obscurity and become known for good in all 18 nations of the Africa Central Area.

Local leaders, Elder Ardern shared, are the key-holders who will lead their congregation members who are Disciples of Jesus Christ, to Make and Keep Sacred Covenants; Love, Share and Invite others to come unto Christ; and to become Self Reliant.  Specific Area wide goals have been established that are key to fulfillment of the Area Priorities. Area employees, senior and young missionaries and members are all necessary to understanding, enabling and living the Area Priorities.  “We are never off duty when it comes to accomplishing our goals,” he emphasized.

The goals for the Africa Central Area include an increase in the number of full-time missionaries serving from the Area. Additional goals include an increase in humanitarian projects, participation in English Connect, more YSA gathering places and YSA conferences, and the lifting of the Church out of obscurity.

A sense of urgency was called for by Elder Ardern as he reminded the audience that these things won’t just happen without faithful, diligent and worthy servants of the Lord making them happen.  He emphasized that time is fleeting saying, “to accomplish what lies before us, we must remember the clock is ticking.  With every click of the hand, time passes by, never to return.”  And then he urged all to realize that Now is the Time, This is the Place, We are the Ones.