Church Celebrates Growth in Togo at Lomé Togo Agoé Stake Conference

On 8-9 June 2024, the Lomé Togo Agoé Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints held its semi-annual conference at the Tokoin Stake Center.  The Agoé Stake was created on 7 May 2023 and is the third stake in Togo.

Attending the conference were many traditional, inter-faith, and community leaders from the Lomé area, as well as many guests and friends of the members of the Stake.

Presiding at the conference was Africa West Area Seventy, Elder Chimaroke G. Udeichi.  He was joined by President Emmanuel Komlan Amehouénou and his counselors. President Kelly Lundeen and Sister Tina Lundeen, mission leaders of the Benin Cotonou mission were also in attendance.

Special guests at the conference were a group of members of the Church and friends from the town of Atakpamé, located 170 kilometers north of Lomé.  The members from Atakpamé meet as a group as they wait for the Church to be established in their area.  They met with President Lundeen who encouraged them to be faithful to their covenants and to wait patiently for the Church to be established in their locality.

Palanga Dadja, who led the delegation of members and friends said, “At Atakpamé, we are few.  For our small group it is a comforting moment for us to feel part of a large community of saints.”

The faithful members from Atakpamé represent the incredible growth of the Church in this small West African country.  The Church recently established units in Kpalimé, Tsevié, Notsé, and Tabligbo.  See article about the establishment of the Notse Branch here.  The first branch was established in 1999, and the first district in 2009.  Currently there are 7300 members of the Church in Togo, meeting in 30 congregations.

Elder Udeichi noted in his remarks that the more the saints respect their temple covenants, the greater the church community in Togo will grow.  “Through obedience to your covenants you will gain sufficient strength to eradicate the evils that undermine society, namely poverty and the precariousness of families,” he said. 

“We believe that the family is eternal and through the sealing ordinances, the family unit can be exalted with our Heavenly Father.  As the number of covenant-keeping members increases, poverty will be eradicated from among the saints and the people of Togo,” he concluded.

At the conclusion of the conference, the community, inter-faith, and traditional leaders were personally received by Elder Udeichi, who was joined by President Amehouénou, and President and Sister Lundeen.  A presentation was made by the communications department of the church which outlined the church’s humanitarian interventions in the Africa West Area, and shared the culture of inter-faith peace and harmony that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints advocates in the communities that they serve.

Following this presentation, the guests toured the stake’s genealogy center with the center director Lamboni Bithian.  Brother Bithian explained to the guests the importance of family history as we seek to perform proxy ordinances for our deceased ancestors.

Togbui Kodjo Tete II, Chief of the Gbala village of the Mission Tove area shared his thoughts with the church leaders. “I thank God for allowing us to be here today.  We have learned a lot about how to follow Jesus Christ.  We were shown how your Church helps young people and people in precarious situations. I would like to thank the President of Togo for allowing a church like this to be established in our country.  We are not going to keep the things we have seen; we are going to share with our constituency how the Church can come to aid our community.”