The Liahona—Past, Present, and Future

By Marvin K. Gardner

Liahona Managing Editor (1993–2005)

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titles of various Church periodicals

Although adjustments have recently been made to the Church magazines, the purposes have not changed. According to the First Presidency, “Church magazines are a valuable resource for learning about the gospel of Jesus Christ and feeling a sense of belonging in His Church” (letter, Aug. 14, 2020).

How does the new Liahona differ from the old Liahona?

With the publication of this inaugural issue, the Liahona becomes the Church’s magazine for adults. The previous Liahona included content not only for adults but also for youth and children, all in the same magazine. Now, for the first time, Church members all over the world will have separate magazines for adults, youth, and children. The magazine for youth is called For the Strength of Youth, and the magazine for children continues to be called the Friend.

How have the titles of Church magazines evolved?

In 1832, two years after the Church was organized, the first Latter-day Saint periodical, The Evening and the Morning Star, was published in Independence, Missouri.

Subsequently, many additional English-language periodicals were published, such as the Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate (1834–37), Times and Seasons (1839–46), Millennial Star (1840–1970), Juvenile Instructor and Instructor (1866–1970), Woman’s Exponent (1872–1914), Improvement Era (1897–1970), Relief Society Magazine (1914–70), and many others, including the Ensign, New Era, and Friend (1971–2020).

In 1846, one year before the pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley, the Church’s first periodical in a non-English language was published in Wales. Church magazines in non-English languages usually began in missions around the world and had a variety of titles over the years. Several titles included the words star, light, or torch. Others were known as the voice, path, or friend of the Saints. By 2000, titles of all editions had been changed to Liahona.

Where does the name Liahona come from?

The word Liahona is a Book of Mormon term meaning “compass” or “director.” It serves well as the title of international publications because it is unique to the Church and has identical meaning in all languages. Here’s how the Liahona magazine developed, changing “from time to time” just as did the writing on the Liahona that directed Lehi’s family (see 1 Nephi 16:29–30):

1907: The Liahona, an English-language periodical of the Central States Mission, began publication in Independence, Missouri. It soon merged content and title with an existing publication and became known as Liahona the Elders’ Journal.
1945: The Mexican Mission changed the title of its Spanish-language publication from El Atalaya (“Watchtower”) to Liahona.
1951: The Brazilian Mission changed the title of its Portuguese publication from A Gaivota (“Seagull”) to A Liahona.
1963–71: A Church committee in Salt Lake City published an English-language periodical, the Liahona, for Native Americans.
1967 and 1968: Sixteen independent non-English magazines that had been published by various missions of the Church were consolidated into a single publication prepared in Salt Lake City; they were collectively known as the “unified magazines.” Languages included Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Samoan, Spanish, Swedish, Tahitian, and Tongan. All of these language editions retained their historical titles.
1974: The “unified magazines” became known as the “international magazines.” The language editions continued to retain their historical titles. Most of the articles had previously been published months earlier in the Ensign, New Era, and Friend. Some language editions also included a customized insert of local content.
1977: An English-language version of the international magazines began publication. Its title was Tambuli, a Tagalog word for an instrument of communication made from the horn of a carabao (water buffalo). Originally intended for the Philippines, the Tambuli was eventually distributed to many English-speaking areas around the world. It became the template for all non-English editions of the international magazines. Eventually new processes were implemented that no longer required the language editions to be designed separately; instead, all of them featured an identical design, allowing sufficient space for expansion of text in some languages.
1993: Every newly approved language edition of the international magazines was titled Liahona, starting with Russian, Czech, and Hungarian, and continuing with additional language editions through the following years: Albanian, Armenian, Bislama, Bulgarian, Cambodian, Cebuano, Chinese, Chinese (simplified), Croatian, Estonian, Fijian, Greek, Haitian, Hindi, Icelandic, Indonesian, Kiribati, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malagasy, Marshallese, Mongolian, Polish, Romanian, Sinhala, Slovenian, Tagalog, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Ukrainian, Urdu, and Vietnamese.
1995: The name of the English international magazine was changed from Tambuli to Liahona. Titles of the Indonesian and Thai editions were also changed to Liahona. Updated processes eventually made it possible for the Liahona to publish articles in the same months as the English magazines rather than many months later.
1999–2000: Titles of all remaining language editions were changed to Liahona.
November 2002: For the first time, the general conference issue of the Liahona was published simultaneously with the Ensign conference issue. With this historic change, Liahona content became the core for each month’s issue of the Ensign, New Era, and Friend.
January 2021: Liahona becomes the title of the Church’s new magazine for adults and begins publication in 48 languages. The Friend and For the Strength of Youth also become available in the same 48 languages. An additional 39 languages receive selected articles in a digital format.

The changes to Church magazines in January 2021 are truly historic. These exciting adjustments continue to fulfill the First Presidency’s direction that the magazines are to be a valuable resource for learning about the gospel and for feeling a sense of belonging to the Church.