LHM Canada expands outreach with French-Language Facebook Page

ONLINE – Lutheran Hour Ministries – Canada released a booklet on Forgiveness through their new French-language Facebook Page. This booklet is quickly gaining traction in the francophone community, with the initial Facebook post on its way to 800 “likes”. The booklet on Forgiveness was selected for this timely release because of the stress and strain of confinement, heightened again in December and then again even more in January. The proverbial Holiday family pressures and more free time were all considered as factors in a positive reception to the booklet. In any case, the theme struck a chord.

While the average Facebook user might not consider this reach to be a big deal by today’s standards, it is important to consider it in the context of francophone Lutheran outreach. Already the first booklet What is Christmas, offered in December of 2020, elicited more response than any other single public outreach undertaking in 40 years of French ministry work in Canada (whether on TV, radio, or by door-to-door canvassing, mass-mailing, and distribution of flyers)—that Christmas response was but a third of the response brought by the Forgiveness booklet alone.

The new LHM French language Facebook page was launched at the end of November alongside the 2020 Advent devotions, translated by Lutheran Hour Ministries. After Christmas, postings of the daily devotions produced by our sister church in France picked up where Epiphany left off. During Lent the French translation of the LHM Canada devotions will also be posted daily.

In addition, leading up to Easter, every 2 weeks, a booklet from the 3-part series: Who is Jesus?; Why did Jesus die? and What is faith in Jesus? will be posted just like the one on Forgiveness. The wave of interest is likely to settle as the novelty of the page and the appeal of the Forgiveness theme gives way to other topics of less general interest than Forgiveness, but the initial buzz has expanded the reach of the Facebook page and brought hundreds to see its offerings of daily devotions, bringing about general awareness of the availability of other French LHM booklets.

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Dr. David Somers

LCC Missionary at Large, French Ministries

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