Pentecost offering helps finances
By Bernie Schnippert
By Bernie SchnippertGreetings from what is now (finally, after a wet winter) a sunny Southern California.
Speaking of sunny, I can start this month's report on a more or less bright note (although I will later share some cloudier news).
The Pentecost offering has been tallied and totaled slightly more than $1 million. As with the spring offerings, the Pentecost offering came in ahead of budget and gave a welcome boost to finances, which were beginning to flag in the heat of summer. Thank you for your generosity! Perhaps you can tell when you read my articles that my moods vary with the income, and since we have been in a downtrend for the past few years, I am not always the most bubbly person around.
However, the festival offerings have been solid, even though less than last year in total, and the support you show by them has helped me lift my lip off the ground and has given me something to smile about.
Now to the daily mail income, which has been a bit more overcast than the sunny festival offerings.
The daily mail average for June finished at almost exactly the same level as May, at $107,784, but this was again short of the revised annual budget of $110,000 per day. As a result, the year-to-date average dipped below the $110,000 threshold to $109,871.
We are fast approaching the heart of the summer, and July and August have historically given everyone in the Finance and Planning area some heartburn and Maalox moments.
True to past experience, the first few days of July this year have been a bit disappointing, to say the least, with July's daily mail average starting out at $75,000 per day.
Nevertheless, we expect this situation to improve now that the July 4 holiday is behind us.
On a related note, thanks to our Computer Information Services department, we can analyze the giving patterns of each local congregation more closely than in years past.
A couple of interesting statistics emerge in regard to per person giving on both the local and national level. Although only 14 of our congregations have seen an increase in the number of individuals donating to the church this year compared to last year, 78 congregations have actually contributed more money than last year.
In other words, per person giving is higher this year than last. This same theme emerges on the national level. Although total contributions are down about 12 percent compared to last year, per person giving is up almost 13 percent.
Once again we are reminded of your commitment and love for your church home, and thank you, loyal contributors, for your continued, generous support, particularly through the lean summer months.
However, since in the end we are receiving less income than last year by a fairly wide margin, we are impressed with the fact that for income to rise, total number of church attendees must probably also rise.
Many members have requested information on how best to make a gift to the WCG, either during their lifetime or upon death, through wills, trusts or other means.
If you want to receive information regarding such gifts, the Legal Department is available to aid you in this regard without cost or obligation. Please write to Legal Office, Worldwide Church of God, Box 111, Pasadena, California, 91123.
The Legal Department regrets that, because of the variance in laws of other countries, such legal information is only applicable to residents of the United States and Canada. However, in regard to other countries, the Legal Department will furnish whatever limited information it may have.
Copyright © Worldwide Church of God, 1998