Theocratic News
◆ For the first time Italy has passed the 80,000 mark in publishers with 81,828 reporting during January. Over 56,000 home Bible studies were conducted and the congregation publishers averaged 12 hours in the service.
◆ France reported a new peak in publishers during January with 68,682 sharing in the disciple-making work. This is a 6 percent increase over last year’s average.
◆ Brazil enjoyed a 5 percent increase during January and a new peak in publishers—107,251. For the first five months of the service year, 2,503 have already been baptized and over 68,000 home Bible studies are currently being conducted.
◆ Japan had an outstanding report for the month of January. A new peak in publishers was reached with 52,774 participating in the evangelizing work. This is a 10 percent increase over last year’s average. Congregation publishers spent over 15 hours in the service during the month. Twenty-six percent of the total publishers shared in some form of the pioneer service during the month.
◆ In the Ivory Coast, a new peak of 1,322 publishers averaged over 10 hours in January and conducted over 1,600 home Bible studies.
◆ Over 4,000 pioneers in 120 circuits in the United States enjoyed attending the Pioneer Service School during April. During the month of August another 120 circuits will host the school and the final classes for 1980 are to be held in December. Approximately 10,000 pioneers are scheduled to benefit from this schooling in 1980.