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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, March 13, 1980
Page 4
New Zealand Update
Christ continues to bless His Work in New Zealand with exceptional income
increases! This month's income was 24.6% up on that of February last
year, even though that in turn had been 36.3% up on February 1978. In
come for the year to date is now running at 23.7% above the same period
in 1979. Mail continues to pour in at an increased rate too--this month
222% more mail was received than in February last year, bringing the
year-to-date mail increase to 177%.
Part of this month's income ·comprised a donation of $1,200 from an
"opportunity shop" which has just been opened up by a group of women
from the Auckland congregation. Situated in a very busy part of the
city, the shop is selling second-hand goods of all types. After only
three months of operation, income from the sale of goods has already
well topped the $2,000 mark. All proceeds are donated to the Work and
are being split two ways--60% to the Work as general income and 40% to
special projects and programs such as S.E.P. and Y.O.U. activities that
benefit the Church throughout the country.
Almost 6,500 requests for Mr. Armstrong's book TOMORROW, WHAT IT WILL
BE LIKE have now been received. And we have very good news from Tonga-
the Plain Truth mailing list there has quadrupled as a result of a recent
promotion to all of the Post Office Boxes in Nuku'alofa.
--Joe Tkach
NEW PETITIONS BACKING CHURCH FILED WITH U.S. SUPREME COURT
God's Church is in the news again as it goes to the U.S. Supreme Court
in an effort to get an immediate review of the very important matters at
stake in our legal standoff with the California Attorney General.
Eighteen ecumenical, civil rights and religious groups are standing up
to be counted. They have banded together into three groups in order to
collectively ask the nation's highest tribunal to allow them, through
three separate Amici Curiae ("friends of the court") briefs, to submit an
"objective and knowledgeable point of view to aid it [the court] in con
sidering the important issues..." in this premier church/state case.
In a press conference last week in Washington D.C., representatives of
many of the supporting organizations went public about their interest in
our case. And in so doing they are telling the court "This matter is of
major concern to responsible national organizations interested in the
preservation of civil freedom generally and in the avoidance of government
entanglement in religious institutions specifically."
You will recall that in mid-November of last year the Church went to
the California Supreme Court to seek relief from "discovery" proceedings
in which the Attorney General had been authorized by the lower courts to
pry into private Church matters. At the time we were gratified when 15
different organizations lent their support to the Church. Although the
State's high court did not choose (by a very close margin of 4-3) to act
at that time, it could not help but have noticed the impressive numbers
that came forward then. There are even more involved this time as we
go to the federal level. Last time the only really large constituency
not represented in one way or another were those of the Jewish faith.
This time we have The Synagogue Council of America which represents the
three divisions of the Jewish religion: Orthodox, Conservative and
Reformed.