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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, JUNE 24, 1986
The Dutch language "Plain Truth" and "Good News" are printed in England at
Ambassador Press, shipped by truck to Ostende, Belgium, and then mailed to
subscribers via the Belgian postal authorities. The reason we didn't mail
from England or the Netherlands is that their postal rates were much
higher than the Belgian rates.
This has been a most efficient and
effective way since 1972.
In April of this year the Belgian postal
authorities advised us that their postal rates would go up 250 percent.
This would have severely hampered our budget now and in the future, but
God does provide. Through negotiations with the Dutch postal authorities,
and having received a special periodical status, it is now possible to
mail directly from the Netherlands at about the same postal rate or even
better than what we used to pay in Belgium, for which we are very
thankful.
Through the month of May we have realized a year-to-date increase in
income of 4.5 percent, Church attendance is up by 5 percent and membership
by 6 percent.
(Submitted by Bram de Bree, Regional Director)
;'!rem South Africa Since midnight, Tuesday, June 10, South Africa has been
· in a general state of emergency. This action was taken .a few days
to the 10th anniversary of the Soweto riots, which took place on June
Along with several hundred arrests in the first few hours of the state
emergency, the action of pu.
tting additional powers in the hands of
and armed forces has brought an uneasy calm to the country. There.
still tension in certain areas, but even the traditional trouble
seem to be feeling somewhat more .relaxed after several days of
iet.
egular news on the violence is being released by the Department of
Information.
There have been sporadic •necklace• murders of suspected
•sympathizers• in the black communities.
This form of execution is
usually carried out after "kangaroo• courts have decided, without any
legal jurisdiction, that the person being tried has promoted or in some
way supported the existing system of government within South Africa. One
black member, an ambulance driver in Kangwane, was stopped and ordered out
of his ambulance. The burning of the vehicle and a "necklace" death were
to follow. Thankfully God intervened and worked out circumstances so he
was able to drive on safely.
Pentecost services, which were held the day before the memorial of the
Soweto riots, were not hampered in any way by the state of emergency. The
brethren from all communities are able to travel relatively safely. There
are pressures by a vocal minority to prevent blacks and other races from
shopping at white-owned businesses in some areas.
Intimidation is the
name of the game.
Members of God's Church appreciate the prayers of brethren around the
world, though we understand that similar conditions exist in other parts
of the globe. Events in South Africa are, however, more in the
eye
of the
media.
(Submitted by Roy McCarthy, Regional Director)
--Larry Salyer, Director of Church Administration