International News at a Glance

• Canada Reports on Growth in First Half of the Year
• Floods Affect Members in Central England
• UCG–British Isles National Council Meets After AGM

Canada Reports on Growth in First Half of the Year

As of June 30, UCG—Canada had 12,625 subscribers to The Good News magazine. (About 2,700 subscribers have been added since Jan. 1.)

Total incoming mail for the first six months of 2007 stands at just over 9,000 pieces. That's about 8 percent more than the same period in 2006. Nearly half of all the mail received this year is via the Internet and e-mail.

All the incoming mail is resulting in a lot of outgoing mail. From January to June of this year UCG—Canada distributed nearly 97,000 items. That works out to 16,135 items per month or about 535 items per day. ("Items" include magazines, periodicals, booklets, article reprints, study papers, letters, CDs and DVDs.)

Sabbath attendance is about 2.8 percent higher than last year at this time. On the other hand, Holy Day attendance is down slightly from last year, even though a record 716 attended Pentecost services across Canada this year.

Canadian income for the first three months of the new fiscal year is ahead of budget, as are the Holy Day offerings.

The responses to the Beyond Today television program continue to come in. We're now approaching 2,000 responses in total since the program began airing in Canada in May 2006. The average number of responses is just under 33 per program. About 72 percent of all the responses have come from new viewers, with the balance coming from those already on file.

The Canadian office staff have been working on the next semiannual letter to be sent to about 7,000 readers of The Good News.

Longer-term plans include working on the upcoming advertisement in Reader's Digest. The ad is planned for the November issue.

We are heading for a record-breaking year in many areas, and your continued prayers for the success of the various projects we're doing are greatly appreciated.

— Edwin van Pelt

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Floods Affect Members in Central England

Newspaper reports called it some of the worst flooding in the United Kingdom in 60 years.

Frank Jarvis, pastor of the Gloucester and Preston congregations, reported, "The Gloucester brethren are all safe, but power cuts and a lack of drinking water are the major problems." Services were canceled July 21 and 28 because of the flooding.

David Jones was stuck in traffic after leaving work on a Friday afternoon. He finally arrived home late afternoon on Saturday! David Elliott's vehicle was completely ruined as he was traveling to Gloucester.

Mr. and Mrs. Jarvis also described their nerve-wracking experience driving through the flooded streets: "Two thirds of the way through the bow wave was engulfing the bonnet, water was sucked in through the air filter and the engine died.

"[We were] helpless, and with water halfway up the car and rising. It seeped in and lapped around our feet.

"Long story short, four strangers pushed us out, and I was able to walk home and tell my neighbor what had happened. He immediately drove me back, and towed the car home. The AA got to us yesterday afternoon (July 23), and towed the car to the garage where it has joined a queue of vehicles awaiting similar attention. We count ourselves very fortunate when we see the plight of others."

The Church office at Chalfont St. Giles was also on the edge of a "lake" as the drains had not been cleared. The staff was at the UCG—British Isles National Council meeting, so "we were blissfully unaware of how close the office came to being flooded," Peter Hawkins said.

The north of England was also affected a couple of weeks earlier. David Fenney, pastor of the northern England and Scotland congregations, said that this time, "As far as I am aware, no one associated with Scotland, Isle of Man, Birmingham and Nottingham congregations has been affected."

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UCG–British Isles National Council Meets After AGM

In a meeting of the UCG— British Isles National Council that followed the conclusion of July 15's annual general meeting (see article, left), several business items were conducted. Council members:

• Acknowledged the selection by the U.K. ministry of David Payne to serve as a ministerial member of the Council following the retirement of Gerhard Marx and Peter Hawkins to continue to serve as a ministerial member following the conclusion of his previous three-year term.

• Welcomed Brian Crook and Steven Moschidis as newly appointed members of the Council and Bryan Ellams as a reappointed member.

• Reappointed Bryan Ellams to the position of executive lay member and as chairman of the Council.

• Reappointed Peter Hawkins to the position of chief executive officer.

• Appointed Mark Webb to take over the position of secretary following the present secretary Brian Crook's appointment as a member of the Council.

• Appointed Laura Payne as a co-opted young adult member of the Council following the present co-opted young adult member Steven Moschidis' appointment as a member of the Council.

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