Christoffel Golden Jr. (born 1 June 1952) has been a general authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) since 2001. Golden was the first resident of Africa to become a general authority of the LDS Church.
Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Golden joined the LDS Church in 1972. From 1977 to 1979 he was a missionary in the South African Mission of the church. Following his missionary service, Golden earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of South Africa.
Prior to his call as a general authority, Golden was a bishop, stake president, and an area seventy in the church. He became a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy in April 2001. Since becoming a general authority, Golden has served in the presidencies of the church's Africa West and Africa Southeast areas. In 2011, he was assigned to LDS Church Headquarters in Salt Lake City, including service as Assistant Executive Director of the church's Curriculum Department.
Golden married Diane Norma Hulbert in 1981 and they are the parents of four children. Golden is an Afrikaner and is fluent in English and Afrikaans.
Famous quotes containing the word golden:
“The golden mean in ethics, as in physics, is the centre of the system and that about which all revolve, and though to a distant and plodding planet it be an uttermost extreme, yet one day, when that planet’s year is completed, it will be found to be central.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)