On the 16-20 October, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints participated in the 2024 Frankfurter Buchmesse, or Frankfurt Book Fair, the largest trade fair for books in the world. Visitors to the Church's booth had the unique opportunity to engage with two different initiatives, trying ‘The Book of Mormon Experiment’ and exploring their family history through FamilySearch.
The Book of Mormon Experiment
“This is one of the most important book fairs in the world,” says Elder Rubén V. Alliaud, president of the Church’s Europe Central Area, “and we have—to my belief, my faith, and my hope—one of the most important books in the world: The Book of Mormon.”
Hundreds of visitors took part in ‘The Book of Mormon Experiment’, where they were invited to read a randomised page from the sacred text and reflect on how it resonated with them. Participants were encouraged to share their impressions and personal feelings about the verses they read, sparking conversations on faith, scripture, and personal revelation. Many expressed feelings of peace, curiosity, and inspiration as they interacted with the words of the ancient prophets.
Jeff Sheets, advertising professor at Brigham Young University and originator of ‘The Book of Mormon Experiment,’ reflected, “Each person gets to know for themselves that the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ, because they've read the words, they've seen the pages, and then they can share with us what they've learned.”
Throughout the conference over 2,500 people engaged with the Book of Mormon experiment, and hundreds of copies of the book were handed out in over 20 languages.
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| Temple Square is always beautiful in the springtime. Gardeners work to prepare the ground for General Conference. © 2012 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. | 1 / 2 |
FamilySearch
In addition to ‘The Book of Mormon Experiment’, the Church also showcased FamilySearch, its free online family history database and service. After last year’s popular display, this is the second time for FamilySearch to be featured at the Bookfair. Attendees were guided through engaging activities and felt “immediate joy” as they participated said Torsten Kux, Europe Central Area Manager for FamilySearch. “People are instantly connected to their families as they start to build their own family tree. They just enter their name and then the name of their parents and they see the tree grow and want to go on and on to build their family tree”
With the ability to connect their ancestors to millions of records already available in the FamilySearch database, over 7,000 visitors expressed excitement at the possibility of tracing their roots and discovering family connections from generations past. The app “My Family Tree” was downloaded over 1,000 times and more than 2,500 new ancestor names have been added to people’s family trees.
Why bring FamilySearch to the 230,000 attendees of the book fair? Elder Alliaud concludes, “Because it's not about building trees, it's not about genealogical things. It is about connecting people. We are a part of one whole family.”
The Frankfurt Book Fair provided an ideal platform for the Church to share these powerful tools for spiritual growth and connection. Both ‘The Book of Mormon Experiment’ and FamilySearch allowed individuals to reflect on their personal spiritual journeys and engage in meaningful discussions about faith, family, and the human experience.