Ernest Sibanda (born 25 December 1925) was either the first or one of the first black members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in what is today Zimbabwe.[1]
Biography edit
Sibanda was born in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia. He was raised in the Seventh-day Adventist Church by his father, who was a pastor in the church. Sibanda earned a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Bachelor of Science degree and trained to be a pastor in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He was a pastor for three years, a teacher for nine years, and a headmaster of a school for fifteen years. He married his wife Priscilla in 1958 and eventually fathered three children.
In April 1976, during the Rhodesian Bush War, Sibanda's house was burned by Zimbabwe African National Union guerrillas who accused him of being an informant for the mostly white Rhodesian government. Sibanda and his wife walked from Salisbury to Bulawayo to try to escape hostilities.
In December 1979, Sibanda met missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints while working in Bulawayo. After reading from the Book of Mormon, Sibanda resolved to be baptized into the LDS Church, and he was baptized within two weeks of first meeting the missionaries. A few weeks later, in early 1980, Sibanda's wife was baptized into the church. Sibanda was the first black person to become a member of the LDS Church in Rhodesia. At the time Rhodesia was part of the South African mission and his baptism in Rhodesia preceded any post-1978 revelation baptisms of black people in South Africa itself. His progress and baptism were closely monitored by the mission president, and was one of the key factors in moving forward with the baptism in 1980 of Moses Mahlangu and some of his associates from Soweto. Sibanda was ordained a priest in the Aaronic priesthood a week after his baptism, and was later advanced to the Melchizedek Priesthood.[2]
The Sibandas experienced some difficulties in being accepted by the white members[3] of the LDS Church in Bulawayo, particularly when they were asked to serve in leadership callings in the church. Over the years Sibanda served in several callings including as branch Sunday School president, a counselor in a branch presidency and branch clerk.[4]
Sibanda was asked by the president of the South Africa Johannesburg Mission of the church to translate some of the LDS Church hymns from English into the Shona language.
References edit
- E. Dale LeBaron (ed.) (1990). "All are Alike unto God": Fascinating Conversion Stories of African Saints (Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft) pp. 125–132
- ^ [https://www.thechurchnews.com/archives/1998-02-28/zimbabwe-pioneers-take-front-row-seats-at-historic-occasion-128193 This 1998 Church News article says that Sibanda was the first black member baptized in Zimbabwe, but it also states that he was baptized in 1965, when in fact he was baptized in early 1979. So its accuracy on the matter of Sibanda being the first black person baptized into the Church in Zimbabwe is questionable
- ^ Richard E. Turley and Jeffrey G. Cannon. "A Faithful Band: Moses Mahlangu and the First Soweto Saints" in BYU Studies Quarterly 55:1 give a very in-depth view of this and explain many of the political and social issues that caused delays on baptisms in South Africa, a very different situation than in the US where black people had always been allowed to be baptized, and black men were ordained to the priesthood and getting sealed in the temple by July 1978
- ^ Turley and Cannon quote one source as stating that only a third of the congregation was willing to raised their hands in welcoming Sibanda, in general this gesture is done by the entire congregation]
- ^ "Zimbabwe—Land of Beauty, People of Faith" in Liahona March 2014
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