Millions of people around the world participated in the “Light the World” initiative during the Christmas season. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints launched the online initiative November 25 on mormon.org to invite people around the world to follow Jesus Christ’s example by serving others.
“We believe the campaign did accomplish what we were hoping — that people would not simply learn more about the Savior, but rather learn about Him by doing what He did,” said Elder David A. Bednar of Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
“It was simple. It invited people to act in very meaningful ways, and it highlighted the true spirit of Christmas,” said Elder Bednar.
A report released by the Church’s Missionary Department shows the videos, produced in 33 languages, received nearly 83 million views in 194 countries and territories before the campaign ended on January 1, 2017.
The Spanish versions of the Christmas campaign for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints led the way with the most views, 39 million views, according to official results on the #LIGHTtheWORLD campaign by the LDS Church.
The English versions of the videos followed with 25 million views. Portuguese was third with 18.5 million views.
During the month of December, the LDS Church encouraged its members and anyone who wants to participate to follow a 25-day advent calendar that invited people to engage in Christlike service. The Church released the videos — one introducing the #LIGHTtheWORLD movement and 25 individual videos to represent the theme for the day — on Nov. 25.
“I hope we learned through 25 ways in 25 days that service is not restricted to 25 days in December. It should be just as important in June as it is during the Christmas season.” — Elder David A. Bednar, LDS Church apostle
In total, the videos — which were produced in 33 languages — received nearly 83 million views in 194 countries and territories between the beginning of the campaign through Jan. 1, 2017, according to a report from the Church’s Missionary Department.
“I think people are looking for ways, especially around Christmas, to leave behind some of the commercialism and really get back to why we celebrate the season. And this campaign seemed to resonate that way as well,” said Greg Droubay, media director for the Church’s Missionary Department, in a press release.
The worldwide church had high activity on social media platforms during the campaign. The campaign reached more than 269 million people on Twitter and nearly 97 million on Facebook. In total, the “Light the World” Facebook posts received 2.1 million likes.
“This campaign truly was international in its scope and in its reach, and it’s a message that was received all over the earth,” said Elder Bednar in the video. “It lent itself to being customized in different areas of the world — in Asia, in Africa — to meet the needs of those people.”
While the “Light the World” campaign is over, the Church plans on continuing to run campaigns twice annually: around Easter and Christmas.
“I hope we learned through 25 ways in 25 days that service is not restricted to 25 days in December. It should be just as important in June as it is during the Christmas season,” Elder Bednar said in the video.
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Kurt Francom
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