January 2, 2008: 59,575 visitors from 48 countries visited the UCOG website in 2007 during its 4th full year of operation. The number of visitors on the UCOG website during 2007 increased by 88 percent in comparison to 2006, and the amount of material downloaded increased by 61 percent.

January 6, 2008: During 2007 the Vereinte Kirche Gottes ["UCG-Germany"] placed 24 sermons in MP3 format on the internet. Those sermons were downloaded 16,012 times in the last twelve months.

January 8, 2008: Outgoing mail statistics for 2007 show a record total of 39,070 pieces of literature distributed in the German language, a 12.8 percent increase over 2006. The most requested booklets during 2007 were "Nach dem Tode – was dann?" ["What happens after death"] and "Gibt es einen Gott" ["Does God exist?"].

January 15, 2008: The January-February issue of the "Gute Nachrichten" magazine is again mailed to a record number of subscribers. The new issue has 5114 readers in 20 European countries, an 3.1 percent increase over the November issue and a 17.6 percent increase over January 2007. This year's circulation goal is 5500 subscribers by the end of December.

January 21, 2008: The Vereinte Kirche Gottes ["UCG-Germany"] publishes its eighth study paper on the Internet, Abstimmungen in der Kirche ["Balloting in the church"]. Several other study papers are in various stages of the editing process.

January 27, 2008: The special fundraiser to provide $3000 to help pay the printing costs for the German version of the 32 page booklet "Creation or Evolution?" is now fully funded. The booklet has already been translated and checked for language style by members of the Vereinte Kirche Gottes ["United Church of God-Germany"]. It is in the final stages of editing and will be the 19th booklet published by the VKG when it is printed in April.

February 10, 2008: The Vereinte Kirche Gottes ["UCG-Germany"] is rewriting the html code in the 550 articles available on the "Gute Nachrichten" website so visitors attracted to "stand alone" articles on the website via internet search engines will see the same format used on the website's own portal. According to statistics from Google analytics, more than 50 percent of the 10,000 monthly visitors find the "Gute Nachrichten" website via search engines. The project will be completed by the end of the month.

February 21, 2008: The Vereinte Kirche Gottes ["UCG-Germany"] is now producing an audio version of the "Gute Nachrichten" magazine in MP3 format for elderly members who have difficulty reading. Volunteers Jürgen Haslop and Ludwig Queckbörner alternate recording the articles, and the Darmstadt congregation produces and mails the CDs as a service project.

March 5, 2008: The Vereinte Kirche Gottes ["UCG-Germany"] reprints the booklet "Biblische Prophezeiung: Ein Blick in Ihre Zukunft" ["How to understand Bible prophecy"], making it the 10th booklet to be reprinted. UCOG contributed funds to help pay the printing costs. Since January 2001, the Vereinte Kirche Gottes has invested $200,000 in printing costs for preaching the true gospel in the German language.

March 11, 2008: The Vereinte Kirche Gottes ["UCG-Germany"] announces an open-ended leadership training program, "Rüstzeug zum Dienen" ["Equipped for Service"]. The program will present various aspects of service in general and personal preparation for service in the church.

March 14, 2008: The March-April issue of the "Gute Nachrichten" magazine is mailed to 5084 readers in 20 European countries, a 12.6 percent increase over March 2007. Among the items in the new 24 page issue is the semi-annual letter from UCOG president Paul Kieffer. This year's circulation goal is 5500 subscribers by the end of December.

March 20, 2008: United Christian Outreach Germany announces a special fundraiser to provide $5000 to help pay the printing and production costs for the new German hymnal to be used in worship services of the Vereinte Kirche Gottes ["United Church of God-Germany"].

April 5, 2008: The Vereinte Kirche Gottes ["UCG-Germany"] publishes a cookbook with recipes for the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Church members shared their own recipes as part of the compilation. Recipes from international areas round out the cookbook, which is available online for download as a PDF file.

April 17, 2008: The Vereinte Kirche Gottes ["UCG-Germany"] prints the booklet "Schöpfung oder Evolution: Kennen Sie alle Fakten?" ["Creation or Evolution – Does It Really Matter What You Believe?"], making it the 19th booklet to be printed. UCOG contributed funds to help pay the cost of printing the new booklet. In addition to these 19 booklets, the Vereinte Kirche Gottes has also published the 12 lesson "Bible Study Course" in German.

April 27, 2008: The attendance and offering statistics for Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the German-language region have been finalized. 96 people met at five locations to keep the Passover. On the first day of Unleavened Bread, 132 people attended services in four locations: Dormagen (47), Meersburg (53), Moosdorf in Austria (8) and Schriesheim (24). The offering was 9403 €, a 21.7% increase compared to 2007. On the last day of Unleavened Bread, 121 people attended services in five locations: Dormagen (34), Hamburg (10), Munich (13), Schriesheim (27) and Winterthur in Switzerland (37). The offering (6941 €) was 3.0% less than in 2007.

May 2, 2008: The Vereinte Kirche Gottes ["United Church of God-Germany"] provides typesetting for the new Dutch booklet "The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy", published by UCG-Holland. The booklet is being printed in Bonn at Köllen Druck & Verlag where the German "Good News" is printed. The Vereinte Kirche Gottes is also providing typesetting for the 12 lesson Bible Study Course in Dutch.

May 8, 2008: The special fundraiser to provide $5000 to help pay the printing and production costs for the new German hymnal has reached 60 percent of its goal.

May 15, 2008: The May-June issue of the "Gute Nachrichten" magazine is mailed to 5024 readers in 20 European countries, an 8.1 percent increase over May 2007. The lead article on the current food crisis in various parts of the world was written by UCOG president Paul Kieffer. A unique cover image purchased by UCG-Germany's editorial staff was modified to highlight the lead article.

May 30, 2008: Effectively immediately, the Vereinte Kirche Gottes [UCG-Germany] will begin using insert cards with a Swiss post office box address for all German-language literature distributed in Switzerland. The new insert cards will replace ones used previously with the main post office box address in Bonn, Germany. The Swiss post office box is located in Biel, near Bern. The new insert cards are intended to promote literature requests and renewals in Switzerland. Cards have been printed for new subscriptions and renewals, general literature requests and requests for the Bible Study Course.

June 9, 2008: Statistics for the Feast of Pentecost have been finalized. 141 people met in seven locations in the German-language region: Berlin (10), Bielefeld (10), Dormagen (29), Hamburg (10), Munich (11), Schriesheim (33) and Winterthur in Switzerland (34). The offering in the German-language region was 9944 €, a 3.9 percent increase compared to 2007. The total offering for the 3 spring Holy Days (Unleavened Bread, Pentecost) was 7.5 percent higher than last year.

June 12, 2008: The Vereinte Kirche Gottes ["UCG-Germany"] publishes its ninth study paper on the Internet, Die Wesensart Gottes und Christi ["The nature of God and Christ"]. Several other study papers are in various stages of the editing process.

June 15, 2008: United Christian Outreach Germany's special fundraiser to provide $5000 to help pay the printing and production costs for the new German hymnal is now fully funded. The new hymnal will be used in worship services of the Vereinte Kirche Gottes ["United Church of God-Germany"]. The German hymnal will be a one-to-one reproduction of the new United Church of God hymnal with some additional hymns from the old German hymnal currently in use. The target date for completing the hymnal is the 2nd half of 2009.

June 29, 2008: The Vereinte Kirche Gottes ["UCG-Germany"] begins using subtitled video clips from the "Beyond Today" television program on its "Gute Nachrichten" website. In the first four days, the current clip titled "Die heimliche Entrückung" ["The Rapture: Who's Left Behind"] had been viewed 75 times. Future plans call for using voiceovers instead of subtitles.

July 9, 2008: The July-August issue of the "Gute Nachrichten" magazine is mailed to 4877 readers in 21 European countries, an 3.5 percent increase over July 2007. A unique cover image purchased by UCG-Germany's editorial staff was used to highlight the lead article on the current weakness of the U.S. dollar. UCOG President Paul Kieffer's editorial highlighted the challenge faced by Europe as China's currency reserves grow and the value of the dollar declines.

July 15, 2008: The income statistics for the first six months of 2008 for the Vereinte Kirche Gottes ["UCG-Germany"] have been finalized. During the first half of the year, income increased by 20.8 percent over the same period last year. The increase is remarkable considering the fact that the income in 2007 was a 19.2 percent increase over the previous year.

July 22, 2008: The Vereinte Kirche Gottes ["UCG-Germany"] announces a four day church retreat at the end of December for church members in the German-language region and the Netherlands. The retreat will be held from December 24-28 at the "Schullandheim Norken" near Hachenburg. There will be a daily Bible study, a group evening activity and individual activities during the day. UCOG is co-sponsoring the event.

July 28, 2008: Six campers from the Vereinte Kirche Gottes ["UCG-Germany"] take part in a church youth camp sponsored by the United Church of God-British Isles. The camp is being held in Buxton south of Manchester, and includes daily Bible studies, outdoor and indoor activities. UCOG contributed funds to sponsor the campers from Germany. Read more »

August 7, 2008: United Christian Outreach Germany announces a special fundraiser to provide $1000 as festival assistance for Mnazakan Poghossjan to attend this year's Feast of Tabernacles in Schluchsee, Germany. Mr. Poghassjan is the only member of the church in Armenia.

August 18, 2008: The Vereinte Kirche Gottes ["UCG-Germany"] has completed an expansion of its internet advertizing with the search engines Google and Yahoo. Currently 18 booklets, the Bible Correspondence Course and the "Gute Nachrichten" magazine are being promoted via keywords.

September 4, 2008: United Christian Outreach Germany President Paul Kieffer is interviewed as a talkshow guest on the German national shortwave station "Deutsche Welle". Read more »

September 15, 2008: The September-October issue of the "Gute Nachrichten" magazine is mailed to 4943 readers in 21 European countries, an 1.9 percent increase over September 2007. UCOG President Paul Kieffer's bi-annual letter to subscribers in the current issue highlights the fall festival season – primarily the Feast of Tabernacles – as the time year of year when Jesus was born. The current issue also continues the series on the fruit of the spirit.

September 18, 2008: United Christian Outreach Germany President Paul Kieffer is interviewed on an FM radio station in Halle in eastern Germany. Read more »

September 26, 2008: United Christian Outreach Germany's fundraiser has reached its goal to provide $1000 for airfare and visa expenses for United Church of God member Mnazakan Poghossjan to attend this year's Feast of Tabernacles in Schluchsee, Germany. Mr. Poghassjan speaks fluent German and is the only member of the United Church of God in Armenia. He is currently unemployed. Without additional financial assistance, he would never be able to attend a UCG Feast site.

October 1, 2008: 163 people met at five locations in the German-language region for church services yesterday on the Feast of Trumpets. In Venlo (in the Netherlands near the German border) the attendance was 60 at a combined service of UCG-Holland and the Dormagen, Germany congregation. 33 people met in Schriesheim (near Heidelberg), and 42 were in attendance in Winterthur, Switzerland. In Munich the attendance was 17, and 11 people attended the afternoon service in Hamburg.

October 2, 2008: 128,913 visitors from 45 countries visited the "Gute Nachrichten" website in the 12 month period ending September 30, 2008, a 30 percent increase over the previous 12 month period. The volume of data downloaded increased by 38.3 percent during the 12 month comparison period. For the first time, the average number of monthly visitors for the year exceeded 10,000 per month.

October 10, 2008: The offering statistics for the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement in the German-language region have been finalized. The offering on the Feast of Trumpets was 9002 €, a 28.6 percent increase in comparison to 2007. The offering (5443 €) on the Day of Atonement was 0.3 percent less than last year.

October 14, 2008: 240 people from 11 countries meet in Schluchsee, Germany to keep the biblical Feast of Tabernacles. Read more »

October 23, 2008: The offering statistics for the Feast of Tabernacles and Last Great Day in the German-language region have been finalized. The offering on the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles was 13,772 €, 18.9 percent more than last year. The offering (17,306 €) on the Last Great Day increased 42.4 percent in comparison to 2007. The total offering on the seven annual Holy Days in 2008 was 18.4 percent higher than last year.

November 2, 2008: At its final meeting of the year, UCG-Germany's national council approved the 2009 budget. The budget calls for total expenses of 215,000 € with an expected income of 173,000 €. The shortfall will be offset by using reserves. The 2009 budget provides 25,000 € for advertizing, including print ads in Switzerland, and 47,000 € for printing and distribution of literature.

November 9, 2008: With 100 songs already typeset, work on the new German-language hymnal is now over half completed. The new hymnal will be used in worship services of the Vereinte Kirche Gottes ["United Church of God-Germany"]. The German hymnal is a one-to-one reproduction of the new United Church of God hymnal with some additional hymns from the old German hymnal currently in use. The target date for completing the hymnal has been moved up to September 2009.

November 17, 2008: The November-Dezember issue of the "Gute Nachrichten" magazine is mailed to 5116 readers in 21 European countries, an 3.5 percent increase over the last issue. UCOG President Paul Kieffer wrote an article on the worldwide financial crsis from a European point of view. The current issue also continues the series on the fruit of the spirit.

November 25, 2008: Three years ago this month the Vereinte Kirche Gottes [UCG-Germany] started its advertizing campaign using Google "Adwords". Since then, 2819 new subscribers have been added to the "Gute Nachrichten" mailing list at a cost of 2 € per response. Since November 2005, "impressions" (ads) for "Gute Nachrichten" were shown 59,916,365 times, bringing 181,140 extra visitors to the "Gute Nachrichten" website. The Google campaign now includes all available German booklets.

December 3, 2008: A "Gute Nachrichten" subscriber from Berlin will be the first non-member to receive audio recordings of "Gute Nachrichten" articles. Elderly members with failing eyesight receive audio CDs as part of a church service project. When the reader asked that his subscription be canceled because of worsening eyesight, he was offered the audio CDs. "Your concern warms my old heart. Please send me the CDs," was the reader's response to the offer.

December 10, 2008: The Vereinte Kirche Gottes ["UCG-Germany"] publishes its tenth study paper on the Internet, Scheidung und Wiederheirat ["Divorce and remarriage"]. Several other study papers are in various stages of the editing process, which has now been given a lower priority until the new German-language hymnal is completed.

December 19, 2008: Phase one of the search engine optimization project on the "Gute Nachrichten" website was completed last February and is producing excellent results. For example, a Google search on "Was ist der heilige Geist" ["What is the holy spirit?"] has the "Gute Nachrichten" article among the top five results out of more than 800,000 German-language websites.

December 24, 2008: 40 members of the Vereinte Kirche Gottes [UCG-Germany] meet in a youth hostel near Hachenburg, Germany for a four day seminar. 75 people are expected to attend Sabbath services this Sabbath during the activity. Read more »