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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, FEBRUARY 1, 1985
International News
From Dr. Roy McCarthy 1984 was the best year in the history of God's Church
in Southern Africa. God richly blessed His Church with some spectacular
increases, leaving one with the feeling that God is speeding up His work.
This has encouraged and stirred everyone to finish the work rather than
just do the work. In this report we will briefly summarize the growth in
Southern Africa and our future plans--especially for 1985.
We still have no television nor radio available to broadcast "The WORLD TO
MORROW." We must therefore continue to concentrate on increasing distribu
tion and circulation of the 48-page PLAIN TRUTH magazine. Our latest cir
culation statistics show 213,000 on our subscription list. Another 56,000
magazines are distributed on newsstands--giving us a monthly circulation of
269,000 magazines. This raises our readership to over 800,000. The total
number of subscribers increased during 1984 by 56.3%.
During 1984 we added 169,318 � subscribers--an increase of 96.5%!
Our
ongoing three-letter renewal system keeps the file active--hence in 1984,
87,270 subscribers were dropped because they failed to renew. The follow
ing identifies the sources from which we added the new subscribers.
Source
Direct Mail
READER'S DIGEST
Newsstands
Regular Mail
Other: Blow-in Cards,
Waiting Rooms, Newspaper Ads
Response
62,192
48,669
21,179
18,909
18,369
% of total 169,318
36.7%
28.7%
12.5%
11.2%
10.9%
The percentage of response to our direct mail efforts was a healthy 5.18%.
The highlight of 1984 was the 28,980 responses to the READER'S DIGEST ad
vertisement placed in the February issue! The two subsequent ads (in Au
gust and October) brought in totals of 10,970 and 7,843 respectively. In
1984 there was a 67% increase in total incoming mail.
Our GOOD NEWS circulation is 9,815, an increase of 15.2% and due to rise
soon when responses come in to Mr. Armstrong's letter to PT readers who have
renewed twice offering the GOOD NEWS magazine. YOUTH magazine circulation
has risen by 17.2% and stands at 1,140.
Our finances during 1984 showed an increase of 17.4% for all accounts. The
operating account (assistance and festival funds excluded) showed an in
crease of 15.8%. Our donors total 1,906, a 16.2% increase, and co-workers
total 1,619, a 10.6% increase.
These fine increases were recorded in spite of the fact that South Africa
has a depressed economy due to the prolonged drought, a low gold price, an
inflation rate of 13% and a very low rand/dollar exchange rate. A record
low of 42.3 U.S. cents to a rand was reached on January 15. Unemployment
has increased as firms retrench or close down. This has affected several of
our members. Salary increases have been very low--in some cases some have
even taken cuts in salary or a decrease in hours worked per week.