The Living Church of God publishes its audited financial statements each year. The complete Living Church of God (International), Inc. and Affiliates Consolidated Financial Statements and Supplementary Schedules can be found at the bottom of the LCG.org/about-us page. Our 2023 audit was performed by McCannon, Rogers, Driscoll, & Associates, L.L.P. Once again, we received an “unqualified” opinion. What this means is that we received a report with no “qualifications”—that is, no objections or hesitancies. Here is what the Report of Independent Auditor stated: “In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Church as of December 31, 2023, and the changes in net assets and its cash flows for the years then ended in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.”
One other item of note is that we switched Auditors for the 2023 audit. In our zeal to be good stewards, we had been noticing a sharp increase in audit fees over the past three years and decided to go through the process of bidding out our audit to reduce the fees. Though it meant that the first year would be more work for our staff as the new auditors got to know us, the 33 percent reduction in fees was worth the effort.
An International Work
The Work in the United States produces the majority of telecasts, booklets, sermons, and other materials, but we also rely on the regional offices and their dedicated staff and volunteers for help in areas where they have particular resources and strengths. Although most regions broadcast the Tomorrow’s World telecast produced in the United States, the regional offices are often the ones that not only sponsor the cost of airing the telecast, but also take care of literature fulfillment. This is often quite complicated due to broadcast format requirements, mailing issues, delivery, and even moving material through the customs process at the border for each country.
The total income in the U.S. for 2023 was $23,813,872. This represents a 5.89 percent increase in Regular offerings, though the overall increase was 1 percent due to the timing of estate and other income amounts. The breakdown of our 2023 expenses into our three main programs include $12,215,814 or 45.22 percent of expenses toward Preaching the Gospel, $12,867,038 or 47.63 percent of expenses toward Feeding the Flock, and $1,929,852 or 7.15 percent of expenses toward Administration.
One of the factors for future growth is the number of our donors and co-workers. These important contributors are those who respond to the Church’s efforts on all our various media but do not yet identify as members or prospective members. 2023 saw growth in donors and coworkers. Donors increased 2.19 percent and coworkers increased 3.41 percent. Not only are we seeing growth in the number of donors and coworkers, but these contributors make up a full 15.7 percent of our total income.
We pray regularly that God will guide the Church’s leadership to choose the best paths for the media effort and will bless the Church with the resources to take the Work forward powerfully. Thankfully, we see again and again that our collective efforts do bear fruit. We hear of new people being called and baptized around the world, and lost sheep are returning to us on a regular basis. Yes, we are a small work, but we are also an effective work that moves forward on its knees. As the world continues down its dark path, it desperately needs the message we preach—a message both of warning and of hope, revealing what will happen to modern Israel and to the whole world before the glorious return of Jesus Christ to establish the Kingdom of God to carry out His plan for all of mankind.
As we consider our international and domestic work for 2023, God’s people can take comfort that we are an integrated work that spans the earth. Please pray that God continually shows us how He wants us to use the media opportunities we are given until Christ returns. We are all striving to fulfill the words of the Apostle Paul, who expressed his hope that, “speaking the truth in love, [we] may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love” (Ephesians 4:15–16).