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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, MAY 25, 1984
Healthy increases are being made here in all areas. Increases over April
1983 are as follows: The GOOD NEWS 15.2%, donors 18.1%, co-workers 14.4%
and members 6.4%.
The mail count for April shows an increase of 34.9% over April 1983, and the
year-to-date increase is 54.7%. Mail income year to date is up by 10% and
the holy day offerings for the Feast of Unleavened Bread were up by a stag
gering 39%!
The U.K. newsstand program is continuing to bring in new PLAIN TRUTH sub
scribers at a rate of over 2,500 per month. Magazines are now being dis
tributed in 11 cities in Great Britain.
Scandinavia: We are
very
pleased and excited to report that the series of
advertisements in Scandinavian newspapers and magazines have brought in
very good response rates. As expected, the ads which featured response
cards have fared much better than the "coupon-type." The best response to
date is 1.3% and it looks as if this will be equalled by the Norwegian and
Danish editions of READER'S DIGEST. The total number of responses to date
is 12,894, and of these 11,250 are requests for the Norwegian magazine. The
differerii::e in demand between the Norwegian and English editions in the
various countries has worked out almost exactly as expected with the fol
lowing ratios:
Norway--for every English edition requested, 10 requested Norwegian
Denmark--for every English edition requested, four requested Norwegian
Sweden--for every English edition requested, one requested Norwegian
Finland--for every two English editions requested, one requested Nor
wegian
Six Norwegian language booklets are now in print, including THE UNITED
STATES AND BRITAIN IN PROPHECY. Four more will be printed by the end of
July. These are: DOES GOD EXIST?, JUST WHAT DO YOU MEAN•••KINGDOM OF GOD?,
THE PLAIN TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTMAS and WHAT WILL YOU BE DOING IN THE NEXT LIFE?
Thirteen more are at various stages of production, and we expect to have at
least five lessons of the Bible correspondence course in print by the end of
the summer.
Middle East: The PLAIN TRUTH subscriber list in the Middle East has in
creased 2.3% over March this year, and by 60.9% over April 1983. The list
now stands at 9,909, and at current rates of increase will peak at just over
10,000 by next month.
From Australia We are now beginning to see results from the recently-begun
waiting room program.
In this program, libraries and businesses with
waiting rooms are approached by Church members offering them a free sub
scription to The PLAIN TRUTH.
There are currently 1,650 libraries and
waiting rooms on our subscription list. Over 1,300 were added in March and
April.
One church area alone was responsible for 450 new subscriptions.
The
minister there estimates that only 20% of the businesses have been con
tacted so far. Members from another church area visited all the prisons in
the state of New South Wales. As a result of their efforts, all 19 prison
institutions in the state now
receive
The PLAIN TRUTH and YOUTH 84, and have
a selection of the Church's booklets in their libraries.