From Mr. Frank Brown: Our summer advertising campaign is bringing in an excellent response. By the end of May the response to the SUNDAY TELEGRAPH advertisement had reached 1.2%, and new subscribers from both the OBSERVER and the TELEGRAPH ads totalled over 14,000. The U.K. PLAIN TRUTH subscriber list for the July/August issue is up by 10% over June and now stands at 106,000. Further growth will occur next month, since not all ad responses were received in time for the file update.
May was another record month for mail income, breaking the previous record (set last month) by 2.5%. The month's increase was 27.4% compared to May, 1984 and the year-to-date increase is 10.7%.
Scandinavia: We are anticipating lots of mail from Scandinavia in the next few weeks, as two million four-colour inserts appear in quality publications in Norway, Denmark and Sweden. The mail generated by these advertisements is likely to be more than the total received to date this year, and should almost double the Norwegian PT file over the next few months!
A small newsstand programme has opened in Oslo, distributing around 1,500 copies of Den ENKLE SANNHET per month, as well as 500 English PLAIN TRUTHS. Most of these magazines are distributed through our outlet in what is said to be the largest bookstore in Scandinavia. The store is situated on the main street (Karljohan Gate) in Oslo.
We are pleased to be able to report further exciting progress in the work of God's Church in Scandinavia. "The WORLD TOMORROW" telecast went on the air in the Oslo area on Sunday, May 5th, at 10:30 a.m. on Norway's largest cable network. This new channel has 140,000 connections within the Oslo area and should have a growing impact.
Middle East/Continent of Europe: The PLAIN TRUTH files for the Middle East and the European continent are picking up again after the dip caused by renewals. The Middle East file is doing particularly well, with 2,923 subscribers added during May.
The newsstand programme has opened again in Greece after being closed for a few months. There are five outlets in and around Athens currently distributing 500 magazines per month.
Africa: We are currently mailing 57,506 copies of The Plain Truth to Africa, which is 68.8% higher than 1984. GOOD NEWS circulation stands at 1,116, which is a 50% increase over 1984.
Unfortunately, we have bad news regarding the mailing out of literature to readers in Nigeria. As you may know, Nigeria is experiencing severe economic problems. Now the government has introduced austere measures to combat these problems. While inflation soars, people's incomes have been held down. Naturally, this has had a detrimental effect on the Church's income. Postage alone has been increased by up to 500%, which will severely hamper our ability to mail out booklets.
On a more positive note, the attendance at Passover in Ghana was the highest ever in the eleven-year history of the Church there. My wife and I visited Ghana for Passover and the first day of Unleavened Bread.
From Mr. Robert Morton Over 4,000 new subscribers were added to the Australian PLAIN TRUTH mailing list in April. The majority of these new subscribers came on file as a result of our PLAIN TRUTH advertisement in the April issue of READER'S DIGEST, the newsstand programme and "The WORLD TOMORROW" telecast.
In December last year the Australian PLAIN TRUTH subscription list passed the 100,000 mark for the first time. Since then we are pleased to report that new subscriptions have kept pace with the drop-off caused by the renewal programme. Currently the mailing list stands at 101,237 subscribers — a 39.4% increase over April, 1984.
Our WATS line number is continuing to boost responses to "The WORLD TOMORROW" telecast. Responses have increased so far this year by 92.4%. A small group of volunteers from the members of the local Gold Coast church have been trained in the WATS line operation and are now making a valuable contribution helping to answer the telephones each Sunday morning.
The mail count for April totalled 20,077 — a 12.5% increase over the same month in 1984. Income for the month increased by 13.3% over April last year, bringing our year-to-date increase to 5.9%.
We have been most encouraged by the number of inquiries from people seeking counsel from the local ministry, desiring baptism, or wanting to attend church services. So far this year these requests have increased by 36.3%.
Attendance in Australia during the Feast of Unleavened Bread was 5,502 — an increase of 4% over last year. The first Holy Day offering was down 9.7%, while the second Holy Day offering increased by 5.2%. These offerings were still very fine when compared to the exceptionally high offerings received last year during this festival. We are grateful to the members for their continuing support of God's Church through the Holy Day offerings, especially in light of the current industrial unrest and economic uncertainty in this country.
In Asia The PLAIN TRUTH subscription list is growing quite rapidly. Advertisements in the February issue of READER'S DIGEST in Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea and Sri Lanka have brought in 1,391 responses so far, with the bulk of responses yet to reach us. The Asian mailing list currently has 63,265 subscribers — an 81.1% increase over April, 1984.
In Sri Lanka "The WORLD TOMORROW" telecast is aired weekly on channel ITNll, Colombo, and Mr. Armstrong's messages continue to capture the interest of viewers in that country. So far this year 1,619 requests for the literature offered by Mr. Armstrong on the programme have been received.
The count of responses from Asian subscribers to Mr. Armstrong's November, 1984, semiannual letter has now been finalised. Asian readers requesting the booklets offered by Mr. Armstrong in his letter totalled 10,987 — 20.5% of the Asian mailing list.
International News
Worldwide Church of God