Ученые записки Института Африки РАН 2023 № 4(65) 107 СОИАЛНА АНРОПОЛОГИ “A SUPERVISORY TYPE OF THING”: THE ESTABLISHMENT AND IMPACT OF THE LATTER-DAY SAINT MISSION IN POSTCOLONIAL SOUTHEASTERN NIGERIA * © 2023 David Dmitri Hurlbut HURLBUT David, PhD (History), Independent Scholar, e-mail: dhurlbut@bu.edu Abstract. This article analyzes the challenges that confronted the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in establishing its official mission in southeastern Nigeria following the 1978 Priesthood Revelation, and the impact of its mission strategy on the religious and daily life of Nigerian adherents. The emergence of unofficial LDS congregations in Nigeria between the late 1940s and 1970s required the LDS Church to abandon its traditional mission focus on proselytization, and instead develop a strategy of supervision–a strategy geared towards appointing and training local church leaders, teaching adherents to be proper Latter-day Saints, and integrating congregations in the administrative hierarchy. Using documentary records and oral histories archived at the LDS Church History Library and L. Tom Perry Special Collections, this article highlights the reciprocal impact of cross-cultural encounters and the shortcomings of the LDS Church’s missionary training programs. Keywords: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Mormonism, Religion, Christianity, Southeastern Nigeria DOI: 10.31132/2412-5717-2023-65-4-107-121 INTRODUCTION On September 27, 1978–a mere three months after President Spencer Kimball received the Priesthood Revelation granting Black members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) the ability to hold the Priesthood–Rendell Mabey, a former president of the LDS Church’s Switzerland Mission, received an unexpected phone call from James Faust, president of the LDS Church’s International Mission, at his law practice in Salt Lake City, Utah. 1 After some small talk, Faust told Mabey: “I’m calling at the request of the First 1 Prior to 1978, the LDS Church prohibited Black members from holding the Priesthood–the power and authority that God has bestowed on men. Before the priesthood revelation, Black men could not be fully-fledged church members, since men must hold the priesthood in order to perform ordinances and act as leaders within the LDS Church. Until 1978, Black men could only join the faith, receive patriarchal blessings, and enter the temple to perform baptisms for the dead. This policy was ended in June 8, 1978, when LDS President Spencer Kimball received his Priesthood Revelation. On the Priesthood Revelation, see, D. Dmitri Hurlbut “The LDS Church and Problem of Race: Mormonism in Nigeria, 1946-1978,” International Journal of African Historical Studies 51, no. 1 (2018): 3. On the Priesthood Revelation, see Edward L. Kimball, “Spencer W. Kimball and the Revelation on Priesthood,” BYU Studies 47, no. 2 (2008): 5–78.