The United Church of God is pleased to present its unqualified audited financial statements for the fiscal year of July 1, 2011, to June 30, 2012. Please see page 4 for all 11 pages of the audit.

As you can see, the United Church of God used considerable reserves to continue operations of the Church and to provide services to the many members worldwide. This was necessary to keep momentum going in doing the work and stabilizing congregations in the United States and abroad. We believe the Church has benefitted from the leadership of the Council of Elders and the administration in using our resources to keep the work of the Church going during a difficult time.

UCG is now at a point where we must have a numerically balanced budget without continued use of reserves. We are trimming in many places to get in line with our income, while still preaching the gospel and preparing a people. We have a good plan going forward in faith that God will continue to bless our efforts as we please him. Thankfully, God is blessing us beyond what He gave us last year, but cutbacks are still needed for the short-term.

To get to a balanced budget we will be trimming about $2,000,000 from the budget. It is never easy to prune, but Christ, as Head of the Church, has done that many times. We have shared the pruning in every area of the organization. It makes us look at ourselves and every facet of what we do.

Ministerial and Member Services has cut back about $750,000 via subsidies and by holding online two-way Web conferences for Feast of Tabernacles planning, United Youth Camp planning and ministerial training. While we have not cut any pastors, we have reduced travel both domestically and internationally where possible and appropriate. We have asked pastors to negotiate their hall prices more carefully.

Media and Communications Services is trimming about $1.4 million from the $5.4 million annual media budget. The Good Newsmagazine is being reduced from 48 pages to 40 pages and subscribers will be asked to renew more often, which will reduce the circulation to only those who truly want to receive the magazine. Also, some advertising will be reduced to effectively manage print runs and mail costs. We will be dropping the World Harvest Networkfor televising the Beyond Todayprogram, while maintaining coverage on WGN Americaand the Word Network. The United News will be publishedsix times per year instead of 10 and will include the United Youth Camp information in the appropriate issue. We will be making Vertical Thought an online-only production for the time being, which makes sense considering its tech-savvy target demographic of teens and young adults.

We will also economize by modifying our health care program by adding employee premiums and raising deductibles. We will reduce home office funding of international travel to the annual meeting of the General Conference of Elders. The Council of Elders will hold at least one video conference each year, and more when appropriate, to save travel costs. For necessary conferences at the home office, visiting ministers will stay with home office employees during conferences and be served economical lunches and dinners at the home office to save hotel and restaurant expenses.

We trust Christ, the true Head of the Church, to bless our pruning and provide future income for sustained growth from our collective efforts. All of us at the home office thank all our brethren and co-workers for their generous contributions and for their prayers for all of us.