Church Launches ‘A Savior Is Born’ Christmas Initiative

A Christmas initiative that includes a video in multiple languages and outdoor advertising in New York City’s Times Square was launched today by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The 2015 initiative, “A Savior Is Born,” focuses on finding, knowing and following the teachings of Jesus Christ. The Church anticipates the initiative will reach millions around the globe as people share the online content on their social channels during the month of December, when Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.

“We live in a world where the power and influence of God in our daily lives are downplayed and dismissed and where the need for a Savior is ignored and even mocked,” said Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the December issue of the Church’s Ensign and New Era magazines. “For those who are devoted to the Lord Jesus Christ, there has never been a greater need for us to profess our faith in our Savior, privately and publicly.”

The two-minute video can be found at christmas.mormon.org, as well as on the Gospel Library app. The video features children in locations around the world, including Israel, Los Angeles, New York and Utah, quoting Isaiah (see Isaiah 9:6 and Handel’s Messiah) and expressing their personal belief in Jesus Christ.

The website and video are available in 33 languages*: Albanian, Armenian, Cebuano, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Fijian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Mongolian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Samoan, Spanish, Swedish, Tagalog, Thai, Tongan and Ukrainian.

Visitors to the christmas.mormon.org website are able to share content created by Lindsey Stirling, David Archuleta, Studio C characters and other social media personalities. In addition, the website features a new animated video titled “Imagine a World Without a Savior” and an infographic.

Shareable content is being posted on the social media pages of Mormon.org, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+ and Instagram. Twenty-five animated GIF images that can be used as a countdown to Christmas will be available to share through social media. Those who share online content are encouraged to use the hashtag #ASaviorIsBorn. 

In New York City, visitors to Times Square will see billboards and videoboards promoting Christmas messages in prominent locations, as well as on top of 400 taxis traveling around the city. The Church will also promote the Christmas initiative on YouTube in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico on December 10.

The public can view billboards in Salt Lake City and St. George, Utah; Idaho Falls, Idaho; Los Angeles, California; and Mexico City.

Church visitors’ centers in the United States, Mexico City, Hyde Park in London, the London Temple and the Hamilton New Zealand Temple have “A Savior Is Born” displays where guests can watch the video during the Christmas season. 

The month-long Christmas initiative is organized by the Church’s Missionary Department. Missionaries are distributing “pass-along” cards in 29 languages. Church leaders hope the outreach will create many teaching opportunities for full-time missionaries.

Elder Brent H. Nielson, executive director of the Missionary Department said, “During the Christmas season, the thoughts of millions of people around the world are turned to the birth of Jesus Christ. We have a special opportunity to declare our belief in Christ, celebrate His birth, and invite others to come unto Him at this time of year.” 

“This Christmas season, each of us will have many opportunities to proclaim our belief in Him to friends and neighbors, fellow workers, and casual acquaintances,” added Elder Oaks. “I hope we will take these opportunities to express our love for Him, to bear our witness of His divine mission, and to renew our determination to serve Him.”

The new initiative builds on the Church’s previous Christmas and Easter campaigns that have reached millions of people around the world. The Church launched its first Easter initiative in 2014 with a weeklong campaign titled “Because of Him.” In December 2014, a month-long Christmas initiative, “He Is the Gift,” included a video that received about 34 million views. The video for the 2015 Easter initiative, “Because He Lives,” was viewed nearly 30 million times.

*Four additional languages have been added since the story was first published, bringing the total number of translated videos from 29 to 33.