Those fun boys in Cincinnati are on a roll. Money is flowing in as over 12 BILLION hits are happening on Google and elsewhere. But what do they really have to show for it? UCG is still an unknown commodity in almost every community in the United States, Canada, Europe, and elsewhere around the world. Only extremely small pockets of people know anything about them. There is no global identification of UCG like Herbert Armstrong and the Worldwide Church of God Ambassador Foundation had.
The Audited Report is the official representation of the Church’s financial condition that is provided to and relied upon by vendors, bankers, donors, members, and others. As such, it is important for the Council to take some time to review the statements and the notes included therein. Mr. Shabi then took the Council through a cursory review of the Report.
He pointed out that the auditors again cited no deficiencies in internal controls and needed to post no adjustments to the Church’s internal financial statements. It was noted that the Church’s financial condition continues to remain strong, with income for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020 exceeding $20 million and total assets increasing by over $1 million, continuing a trend we have seen over the last few years. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, which curtailed travel and other related expenses during the last three months of the fiscal year, expenses came in under budget for the fiscal year, resulting in the net increase in assets.
The complete audit report will be printed in the next issue of the United News.
Next, current year (fiscal year 2021) financial statements, including a Revenue Statement for November and the fiscal year-to-date, a recap of fall Holy Day offerings and attendance, the November balance sheet, departmental expense statements, a “COVID-19” period income statement, and operating statistics were presented and discussed.
It was noted that income for the first five months of the fiscal year, especially in General Contributions and Holy Day offerings, is well above budget. This is a blessing from God as we did not know what to expect during this pandemic time. At the same time that revenue has been strong, operating expenses have been well under budget during this pandemic, which was unforeseen when the budget was prepared, presented and adopted by the Council last February.
Mr. Shabi shared a “COVID-19 income statement” that covered the period of March – Oct. 2020, noting revenue increases and citing those expense areas, such as travel, meetings and conferences, and local church subsidies that are significantly under budget. He commented that the Church will not expend all the funds approved in the current budget due to these unique and unprecedented times and that, at Council and Administration discretion, some of those unused funds may be allocated to other areas of operation during the remainder of the fiscal year as needed.
Mr. Shabi concluded the financial report by discussing upcoming budget planning for the Church and acknowledging God’s blessing on His Church which has been so evident during this time.
Where did this $20 million go to, besides the pockets of the upper elite?
Current statistics include:
- 397 elders in the United Church of God (UCGIA)
- 109 outside the U.S.
- 288 in the U.S.
- 79 church pastors
- 10 associate or assistant pastors
- 1 ministerial trainee
- 192 churches and Bible study groups in the U.S.
- 35 U.S. baptisms since the August meetings (93 baptisms so far in 2020)
Peter Eddington went through some of the following statistics as of November 30 this year:
- United News circulation is currently at 17,941, which is an all-time high and 1.1% more than this time last year.
- Our coworker count is now at 7,599, our highest ever (and 16.5% higher than the same time last year).
- Our donor list now includes 9,392 people—28% higher than this time last year (Our all-time high was 9,564 in June of 2016).
- Donors combined with our coworkers is now 16,991 (22.5% more than same time last year).
- Total Beyond Today magazine circulation worldwide is at 310,945 for the Jan.-Feb. 2021 issue—which is 5.4% more than the same time last year.
- U.S. magazine subscribers are at 258,460 for the Jan.-Feb. 2021 issue. This is 7.2% more than the same time last year.
- Those people on our U.S. file associated with the Church (teens, members, associated) as of October 31 is 12,111.
- The Church’s Beyond Today YouTube channel at youtube.com/user/BeyondTodayTV has had 13.25 million video views since November 2006 (a 12.5% increase since last December), has 60,100 subscribers (a 12.5% increase since last December), and hosts 2,323 videos (an 11% increase since last December). This is an average of 2,600 videos being watched every day (an increase of 4.7% since last December).
- The number of Google, Yahoo and Bing advertising impressions since 2004 stands at 12.4 billion.
- UCG reports these things as if they are the greatest COG ministry ever to hit the scene in decades. This in spite of the fact Bobaniah Thiel, Dave Pack, and Gerald Flurry all claim they are the fastest-growing COGs in the 21st century. All groups where their leaders lie to them that tithing is a requirement of the New Covenant.
