There are strong resonances between the teachings of the Church and some traditional African
beliefs. The parallels between both cultures are remarkably evident in concepts such as firm
family principles, service and community, and life as a continuum (or the afterlife).
The rapidly growing success and spread of the restored gospel in Africa may in part be due to the
way Church doctrines and ideas continually reinforce and enrich the aspects of African lifestyle.
This is in stark contrast to the history of harassment that Africans endured due to colonialism and
even at the hands of the early Christian missionaries.
The family is central to the way the Church is organized globally. Ideally, families gather
morning and evenings at home for scripture studies or meals together. On Monday evenings, we
meet as family units for Family Home Evenings. Families pray together, serve one another, and
sit at church meetings together. If there is a need an individual family member cannot meet for
himself, he or she looks first to the family for assistance before reaching out elsewhere for help.
This kind of arrangement and setting is familiar to a typical African.
In rural African societies, the folks believe just as much as Mormons do in strong and extended
family systems and institutions. In fact, the family is the only "insurance policy" that family
members hold. Strong family bonds - the good that comes from sharing or the collective strength
of community in the face of tragedy or disaster - is one of the earliest lessons a newborn child
learns as it grows up.
In my youth I was repeatedly taught that we participated in family celebrations, not because we
did not have enough to eat in our own homes, but because family by its very nature is sacred.
My country was engulfed in a grimly raging and bitter civil war. Our communities were often
bombed, strafed and reduced to rubble by both sides of the warring conflicts. As soon as the
raids were over, those who survived the attacks would rally to bury the dead and to rebuild the
mud and wattle house for those whose homes had been leveled.
While some men would go into the forest to cut bamboos to be used as walling and roofing
material, others would climb up palm trees, harvest the fronds and make roofing mats for the
building in progress. Still others rushed to the stream to fetch water for use in firming up the dirt
floors and mashing mud for the walls.
These folks very much appreciate the wisdom in rendering service. As one of their pithy sayings
reminds us, "True power comes through cooperation and silence."
Just as the Church teaches that true religion lies in selfless service, Africans know that, "Only by
helping one another can a people bring an elephant into the house." I was indelibly impressed by
the ideas of service and community when I was growing up.
In my formative years, I was as much raised by an army of aunts, uncles and extended family
members as I was by my parents. In my community we practically lived the saying that it takes
an entire village to raise a child. In my soon-to-be-released memoir, I have detailed an instance
where as a lad I was severely disciplined by a family friend but I was discreet enough not to
mention the incident to my parents for fear I might attract added sanctions!
Whenever I asked the village elders why raising children was the concern of everybody in the
village, the answer I got came by way of native wit: "We desire to bequeath two things to our
children - the first is roots; the other one is wings."
This sense of rootedness is very well structured in the doctrines of the Church. It begins with the
Primary programs and continues through lessons taught in priesthood quorums and Relief
Society classes. It carries over in the ideas the Church solemnly teaches about family and death,
just as it does in African beliefs about these concepts.
Unlike many who view the family as made of living fathers, mothers and children in many
instances, the way the Church and rural Africans conceive this is more inclusive. Families in the
Church trace their genealogy from their immediate ancestors and back in time to Adam. Their
dead are considered temporarily separated from their living family members, and relationships
with these long-dead ancestors can be sustained through covenants made in the temple.
Church members revere their relationships with ancestors because they realize that the dead
depend on the living for sacred ordinances essential for the salvation of those on both sides of
the veil.
This principle, as taught by Prophet Joseph Smith, was evoked as recently as in the most recent
general conference by Elder Richard G. Scott, who said this:
"I believe we move and have our being in the presence of heavenly messengers and of
heavenly beings. We are not separate from them. …We are closely related to our kindred,
to our ancestors … who have preceded us into the spirit world. We cannot forget them;
…We live in their presence, they see us, they are solicitous for our welfare, they love us
now more than ever. For now they see the dangers that beset us; … their love for us and
their desire for our well-being must be greater than that which we feel for ourselves."
This teaching is in tune with core African beliefs that life and intelligence go on after death and
that those who have passed on actively take interest in the affairs of those who survive them. An
Efik saying urges that one should, "Lament not the dead, but lament the trouble of making a
grave; the way of the ghost is longer than the grave."
For Mormon as well as African belief systems, death is a necessary part of life but not its
terminal end. "The soul," as another African adage goes, "would have no rainbow if the eyes
didn't have tears."
Since the light of Christ follows everyone born into this world, it is not surprising that some
gospel truths are found in traditional African cultures. As they proselyte and add light to light,
missionaries may want to emphasize and reinforce these shared sacred beliefs even as they
correct ancestral traditions at variance with the scripture.
I strongly believe that the coming of restored truths to Africa is the fulfillment of several
prophecies, among which includes the Lord's promise in Jeremiah 3:15 ("And I will give you
pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding").
Imo Ben Eshiet was born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Raised in his village, Uruk Enung, and at
several cities in his country including Nsukka, Enugu, Umuahia, Eket and Calabar, Eshiet is a
detribalized Nigerian. Although he was extensively exposed to Western education right from
childhood in his country where he obtained a PhD in English and Literary Studies from the
University of Calabar, he is well nurtured in African history, politics, culture and traditions.
Imo is currently a teacher in the high priests group in the Summit Ward of the Greensboro North
Carolina Stake.