A consequence of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God is that some of our readers and listeners contact us for further information and guidance. A relationship develops as we provide them with supplemental publications to answer their questions and to aid their Bible study.

Some questions cannot be answered by literature alone and require a personal response from a United Church of God elder. Increasingly, those who hear our message contact us through e-mail, and we respond the same way. E-mail comes to our info@ucg.org and info@gnmagazine.org mailboxes, from which Terri Eddington in the home office distributes it to a team of field pastors, who respond to each one.

Their replies are channeled back to Mrs. Eddington, who proofreads the responses with Mike Bennett and e-mails them to the original sender from the official UCG e-mail address. The messages are signed by the ministers who answer them, establishing a personal contact with the people reaching out to us. Mrs. Eddington maintains a database of answers by topic. (See below for more on Internet Personal Correspondence as well as Vertical Thought PC.)

In addition to the burgeoning Internet services we provide, we still receive approximately 100 letters by surface mail each month that require a personal response. Alec Surratt and Barbara Antion, in the home office, read and note the portions of these letters that require a response. Wendy Lovelady faxes them to Cecil Maranville, who answers them, working out of his home in Glendale, Arizona.

He e-mails the answered letters back to Mrs. Lovelady for proofreading, printing and mailing from the home office under the supervision of Richard Pinelli, operation manager of Ministerial Services. Mr. Maranville also maintains a topical database for the sake of monitoring and reporting on trends and interests.

Although we do not have a toll-free telephone line for subscribers, people will occasionally call the home office with questions of the type we handle through the Personal Correspondence Department. These include chaplains who want information on the Church, due to the application of an inmate for time off for the Sabbath and Holy Days or for a pork-free diet. These telephone calls are also routed to Mr. Maranville.

Form Letters and Personalized Responses

Many years ago, the Church had a series of printed form letters that it sent in response to questions. By contrast, today we are able to personalize every response. We have a complement of over 300 form letters to assist our writers in answering letters. These letters were written and reviewed by a team of elders and approved by the Council of Elders. Using computers and the Internet, our writers incorporate information from the form letters as appropriate, but always include a personal touch.

Mr. Maranville generates a detailed report on the PCD activity every month, keeping the administration abreast of trends. The president usually shares highlights of this report with the ministry and membership via the "Home Office Updates."

Inmate mail continues to be a sizeable minority of surface PCD mail. One of the most common requests from men and women who want to live God's way of life is for a letter of support in their pursuit to keep the Sabbath, Holy Days and the food laws.

We send out many letters of encouragement to people who are dealing with difficult trials. For example, we sent a letter of encouragement to one of our readers who asked for help a few months ago, because she is unable to overcome smoking. She feared she has committed the unpardonable sin. We also provide counseling to subscribers who write for advice and guidance. Some other counseling situations this year include how a mother could improve her relationship with her teen daughter and how a person could deal with her marriage breaking up.

Our members often enjoy hearing about the unusual requests we receive. This year, we heard from a 90-plus-year-old asking about attending church. Another octogenarian asked if she was too old to attend! A teacher in Africa inquired about ABC, having learned of it from a newspaper in which his groceries were wrapped.

Subscribers asked various questions about the rapture doctrine all year long, including one who was thunderstruck by the revelation that the doctrine is false. He asked, "Are you absolutely sure?"

Another common category of questions is on the role of women in the Church, as well as specifically in our organization.

And, we regularly deal with people who are attempting to convert others to their new understanding. For example, we corresponded with one teen who is using our literature to conduct private Bible studies for her friends.

Sampling of Questions

Here is a sampling of the doctrine or Christian living questions from this year:

• Is anointing oil for anyone to use or only for the ministry?
• Can every sin be forgiven?
• What significance is the recently formed Sanhedrin?
• How is it possible for true believers to fall away?
• On military service and war, doesn't the United States have the right to defend itself?
• Will one have visions and dreams if God is truly calling a person?
• How can a layman recognize a false prophet?
• Is potassium bicarbonate a leavening agent?
• How can a person tell if he is spiritually dead?
• Do we view Paul's letters as changing Christ's teachings?
• Can we pray to saints?
• Should believers go to a prom?
• Why did God allow war in the Old Testament?

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