Where Is the Money Actually Going?
In the UK all charitable organizations must file a public document reporting their accounts for each year with the Charity Commission for England and Wales.
This report (I am attaching the PDF along with the link which can be found here) only itemizes the income and accounts for the PCG UK (Registration #05314410]. The most current report is for the year ending Dec 31 2020 but it also lists all the financial information for the previous year 2019. While the entire 24 page report is intriguing and definitely worth a read, a few items jumped right off the page.
“Expenditures on Charitable Activities”
On page 21 of this report is a list totaling the expenditures for the year. One line item dwarfs all the rest. One might assume it has something to do with giving or some charitable activity. But one would be WRONG!!! A whopping £473,520 ($565,735) in 2020 and £525,287 ($631,893) in 2019, this massive line item is titled Ministerial Travel! They must have a large ministry to send all over Europe…… Nope, just 3 ministers! To boot there are approximately 7 tiny congregations one being Edstone! Wait it gets better…… How do 3 ministers spend £473,520 ($565,735) on “traveling” when travel was completely restricted for most of 2020 due to COVID-19? This is a ludicrous amount even when they can travel! Most European airfare, round trip can be purchased for £100. What type of ultra luxury accommodations are these “servants of Christ” staying in? Where and what are they dining on?
While the PCG will probably claim that these exorbitant costs are associated with the “Flurry Jet” that simply doesn’t make sense. Why would you infuse cash into the UK to balance the books to turn around and pay the PCG USA for a Jet that might have been used once in the UK for all of 2020?
“Publishing, Advertising Campaigns, and Distribution of Literature in Ten Languages”
True to cult form the PCG tries to exaggerate their impact by using percentages instead of actual numbers. For instance, under this section (see attached document) they boast “Literature requests in French were 9.5 times higher.” “German literature request were four times as high and downloads increased by 25%.” Why, if they are having such an amazing growth and impact, wouldn’t you produce actual numbers? One might ask 9.5 times higher then what? Four times more then??? 25% increase from what? If the PCG was having such an impact and reaching vast numbers of people through downloads and literature, the actual numbers would be published. Just as they did in the next sentence for the amount of propaganda articles they published, FYI 983. This is because their people sit in their seats and are trained not to think or ask these questions, Just blindly trust and believe the “government.”
“Rendering of Charitable Works under the Benevolence Program”
This subsection is laughable! Here is where the cult can’t hide behinds words. Let’s just see how much benevolence is flowing out of the PCG! Under the financial review section the PCG UK claims to have a total income of £986,353 with a “charitable” expenditures of £897,517 leaving a surplus of £88,835. This is only possible with a infusion of cash from the PCG USA and PCG AUS of £333,425. With that background, now let’s go back to the “love” the PCG claims to show. Page 21 and 22 have line items showing how much 3T Assistance AND FOT assistance was distributed (no where does it show how much was collected which is another interesting omission). The total for 2020 (drum roll please …….) £2,845 and in 2019 it was £ 1,114! I double checked. I didn’t forget a zero or two! That’s it! So now, let’s use the percentages this cult loves to throw around to determine the total amount of love that flowed out of the PCG to its membership: 0028% in 2020. Yep, less the 3 hundred thousandth of a percent of the PCG UK income that flowed back to its people in true love! So they demand their people pay their 3T and they claim that it all goes to help those in the “church” in need. But when they have to open the books, it shows a completely different picture. To summarize Ministerial travel (in a time of no travel) it was £473,520 and total love distributed to help it’s membership £ 2,845. Where is the money actually going?
P. S. When looking at the numbers, keep in mind that the ministers must be payed out of Edmond, as it only seems that the few office administration salaries are paid from the UK office.
By C. (former member of PCG)
July 9, 2022
NOTE: The submission of this financial report to ESN led to PCG making the decision to stop posting sermons online in order to try and stop leaks (although they wouldn’t state it like that).
Related Letters:
Viewed Philadelphia Church of God Financial Accounts in the UK (December 5, 2010 letter)
PCG Makes Decision Not to Post Anymore Sermons Online (July 13, 2022)
Tyrannical Rules (July 14, 2022)
Related Articles:
Five Year PCG UK Financial Review (Showing the Decline of Philadelphia Church of God) (June 2, 2023)
Philadelphia Church of God Info (History, teachings, destructive methods)