Church celebrates historic opening of its Holy Temple in Durban
New temple for church members.
Local members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will no longer have to travel to Europe to access the church’s holy temple.
This follows the historic opening of the church’s newly built state-of-the-art temple in uMhlanga, north of Durban.
Since 1985, the Johannesburg Temple, located in Parktown, was the only temple in the entire African continent, which made it difficult to accommodate the church’s millions of members.
Tembisa-based church members who travelled with this newspaper to witness the opening of the temple could not hide their joy.
“This is a great day indeed for us and for other branches across the country and neighbours Swaziland, Mozambique, Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Botswana. We have for a very long time been hoping for another temple to be built elsewhere in the country to ease the burden of having to queue for hours to access the Parktown-based temple.
This will really help us a lot,” said Mandla Nkosi, from Lekaneng Section and a member of the church.
“To members of the church, temples are literally houses of the Lord. They are holy places where individuals can go to make sacred promises with God, feel His spirit and escape from the hectic demands of day-to-day life.
“Faithful members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints find opportunities for peaceful reflection and for learning more about God’s plan of happiness. Inside temples, couples can be married for eternity, not just ‘til death do you part.’ Members of the church can also perform baptisms and other ordinances for their loved ones who died without receiving these blessings.
“Temples are different than meeting houses, where members of the church worship on the Sabbath and where visitors are always welcome to participate. Meeting houses might include a neighbourhood chapel or even a rented space in a city building and are where members of the church gather together regularly for Sunday worship services and weekly activities,” said the church’s president, Elder Mark Palmer.
