A Gospel Resource for "All the Nations": How the Church’s Liahona Magazine Serves Members Worldwide

Contributed By Eleanor Cain Adams, ChurchofJesusChrist.org Church News staff writer

  • 17 April 2019

The Liahona, the international magazine for the Church, serves members around the world in 48 different languages. The magazine is printed in 23 languages monthly and in other languages one to six times per year.

Article Highlights

  • The Liahona provides support for home-centered gospel learning in print and digital formats in 48 languages.
  • The print Liahona delivers uplifting articles for children, youth, adults, and young adults in about 140 countries.

The Liahona is the Church’s international magazine, serving members around the world in 48 different languages in both print and digital formats. The magazine is printed in 23 languages monthly, with the other languages being published less often throughout the year (see table below).

Liahona content for adults, youth, and children is also published concurrently in the Ensign, New Era, and Friend. Outside of the United States, a section of the magazine includes local stories written by Church members who live in those areas.  

Ryan Carr, assistant managing editor, says that while it can be challenging to plan issues of the Liahona for members all over the world, the magazine creates an important sense of belonging to the global Church family.

“We do our best to meet the needs of members in numerous countries, who have various levels of gospel knowledge, education, and economic conditions,” he said. “The Liahona can speak to people in all of those different situations because it teaches the gospel of Jesus Christ, which crosses all cultures.”

The Liahona and other Church magazines are available at magazines.ChurchofJesusChrist.org and in the Gospel Library app. Subscriptions, including gift subscriptions, are available at store.ChurchofJesusChrist.org or at local distribution centers.

How to use the Liahona

Church members say they enjoy reading the Liahona for:

  • Gospel insight from Church leaders.

  • Faith-promoting stories from other members around the world.

  • Help in preparing talks or lessons.

  • Inspiration, doctrine, and spiritual uplift.

  • Help on specific topics, such as parenting, marriage, ministering, teaching, self-reliance, and challenges like pornography and addiction.

Language publishing frequency

Areas with more members of the Church can receive the Liahona more often; areas with fewer members receive it less often. As the Church grows in a country or language, the Area Presidency can request to have the Liahona translated and published more often in that language.

The following 23 languages are published each month: Cebuano, Chinese (Cantonese and Mandarin), Chinese Simplified, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Samoan, Spanish, Swedish, Tagalog, Thai, Tongan, and Ukrainian.

The following nine languages are published six times per year: Albanian, Bislama, Cambodian, Czech, Indonesian, Kiribati, Marshallese, Mongolian, and Romanian.

The following seven languages are published four times per year: Armenian, Bulgarian, Fijian, Malagasy, Polish, Tahitian, and Vietnamese.

Urdu is published three times per year.

The following four languages are published twice per year: Croatian, Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian.

The following four languages are published once per year: Greek, Icelandic, Slovenian, and Swahili.

All 48 languages and their publishing frequencies in alphabetical order: 

Language

Issues/Year

Months Published

Albanian

6

January, April, May, July, October, November

Armenian

4

April, May, October, November

Bislama 

January, April, May, July, October, November

Bulgarian

4

April, May, October, November

Cambodian  

6

January, April, June, July, October, December

Cebuano

12

All

Chinese

12

All

Chinese (Simplified)

12

All

Croatian

2

April, October

Czech

6

January, April, May, July, October, November

Danish

12

All

Dutch

12

All

English 

12

All

Estonian

2

April, October

Fijian

4

April, May, October, November

Finnish

12

All

French

12

All

German 

12

All

Greek

1

April

Hungarian 

12

All

Icelandic

1

April

Indonesian

6

January, April, May, July, October, November

Italian

12

All

Japanese 

12

All

Kiribati

6

January, April, May, July, October, November

Korean

12

All

Latvian

2

April, October

Lithuanian 

2

April, October

Malagasy

4

April, May, October, November

Marshallese

6

January, April, May, July, October, November

Mongolian

6

January, April, June, July, October, December

Norwegian 

12

All

Polish

4

April, May, October, November

Portuguese 

12

All

Romanian

6

January, April, May, July, October, November

Russian

12

All

Samoan

12

All

Slovenian

1

April

Spanish

12

All

Swahili

1

April

Swedish 

12

All

Tagalog

12

All

Tahitian

4

April, May, October, November

Thai

12

All

Tongan

12

All

Ukrainian

12

All

Urdu

3

April, July, October

Vietnamese

4

April, May, October, November

 

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