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- Bischoff Verlag: Strategic Reorganization for 2015
Frankfurt. Bischoff Verlag, a publishing house belonging to the New Apostolic Church, is setting new objectives. Its new mission statement was presented to the company’s employees today: “We help people live their lives in accordance with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” The publishing house plans to introduce new product lines based on this philosophy in order to reach new target groups.
To this end, with the approval of Chief Apostle Wilhelm Leber, the head of the New Apostolic Church International, the publishing house is being given greater freedom regarding the contents of its publications. In the future, products discussing general Christian topics will appear under a new brand name. These will supplement the established product lines that are closely related to the New Apostolic Church. In the future, the publishing house also hopes to reach out to younger church members more directly, in particular by expanding its online offerings.
Dr. Jürgen Hendriock, Managing Director of the publishing house, says: “I am glad that we have a chance to strengthen our editorial department as a whole by reorganizing the publishing house. We will also be able to create a network of outside authors, editors and composers. On the other hand, we cannot avoid reducing our costs to correspond with the reduction in sales. This will also mean reducing the permanent positions within the company. We are doing everything we can to find socially responsible solutions, such as partial retirement, early retirement and transferring employees to other companies. This adjustment will take place over a period of 5 years. We have already had conversations with the employees who will be affected, to the extent that this is foreseeable.”
The newly implemented business direction has other causes as well. The demographic trend in Europe has led to a consistent decline in sales. This decline has been hastened by our society’s changing media consumption behaviors, which are naturally also echoed by Church members. A decline in orders for the Church and the publishing house prompted the Church leadership to part from its printing press.
» Friedrich Bischoff Publishers Ltd.
The Friedrich Bischoff GmbH publishing house grew out of the New Apostolic Church’s inhouse press, founded in 1928. Since 1981, the publishing house and press have operated as independent companies; with the death of company founder Friedrich Bischoff in 1987, they became the property of the New Apostolic Church.
16 March 2010