Book of Mormon Central International Efforts

Over the past century, Book of Mormon scholarship has been traditionally published only in English. While that may have sufficed in the past, it is not sufficient today. Over half of the membership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint resides outside of the United States, and speaks a multitude of different languages. Many non-English speaking Saints want to learn more about the Book of Mormon and early Church history, but up to this point, there have been very few resources – aside from the scriptures and some translated Church materials – available to them.

Since 2017, Book of Mormon Central (BMC) has provided supplemental material in Spanish to help meet this growing need. Beginning that year, BMC formed a Spanish team, headed by native speakers, to begin the translation of our “KnoWhys.” Shortly after that, BMC launched a website, Facebook page, and YouTube Channel.

At the time of writing, the BMC Spanish Team has translated over 500 KnoWhys into Spanish. They have also produced dozens of their own original articles and videos. In addition, the Spanish team is translating the content for BMC’s developing scripture study app, ScripturePlus. BMC hopes to have a simultaneous app launch in both English and Spanish later this year.

The reaction from the Hispanic community has been incredibly positive, and shows the great desire throughout the Church for non-English resources to supplement their scripture study. The Facebook page for BMC en Español currently has almost 75,000 followers. Their YouTube channel has over 11,000 subscribers with almost 1,000,000 total views.

Book of Mormon Central is not alone in these efforts. The More Good Foundation provides translation of content into over a dozen languages. They have partnered with BMC and other organizations, such as the German Mission Foundation, to help translate and produce quality content.

In their partnership with the More Good Foundation, the German Mission Foundation has been able to establish a website and social media pages which have reached over 100,000 people. They translate and produce content from a number of sources, including BMC, for the German Saints. As resources and funding permit, BMC hopes to expand its translation efforts by producing content for Saints who speak other languages the world over.

As President Gordon B. Hinckley said, “The Church has become one large family scattered across the earth. … A marvelous and wonderful thing is coming to pass. The Lord is fulfilling His promise that His gospel shall be as the stone cut out of the mountain without hands which would roll forth and fill the whole earth, as Daniel saw in vision. A great miracle is taking place right before our eyes… And this is only the beginning.”1

• 1. President Gordon B. Hinckley, “The Stone Cut Out of the Mountain,” Ensign, November 2007, online at lds.org.