Reachout Trust is a British

evangelical Christian Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "born again", in which an individual experi ...

organisation. Its stated aims are to "examine in the light of the Christian

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

the beliefs and practices of people within the

cult In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal ...

occult The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism ...

new age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars consi ...

and all not upholding to biblical truth." Reachout Trust addresses many different groups including

Jehovah's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved ...

, the

Latter Day Saint movement The Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS movement, LDS restorationist movement, or Smith–Rigdon movement) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded by Jo ...

, and

Christadelphians The Christadelphians () or Christadelphianism are a restorationist and millenarian Christian group who hold a view of biblical unitarianism. There are approximately 50,000 Christadelphians in around 120 countries. The movement developed in th ...

as well as the occult and New Age. Reachout Trust also produce information about other groups and religions and writes about various influential Christian figures (such as tele-evangelists and authors) and various groups within non-evangelical Christianity, such as

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. Reachout Trust communicates the perceived dangers of those groups' beliefs and/or practices to the

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual exp ...

Christian community and presents the Christian

from an evangelical perspective to members of those groups. Reachout also teaches the Christian Church about biblical warnings concerning error and how to engage with those holding to ideas the Bible identifies as errors. The organisation is based in Surrey, UK. Reachout Trust produce articles on their website, and on a blog, publish books and booklets, as well as having a presence on social media. They also visit interested churches and groups.

History

The organisation was formed in 1982, under director Doug Harris. Their first newsletter, produced in 1984, was four pages long and consisted of a few hundred photocopies. That grew to a ''Quarterly'' sixteen pages sent out to several thousand individuals and churches across the country. These days the newsletter is online and gets sent out bimonthly. This was later discussed further in J. S. La Fontaine's ''

Speak of the Devil "Speak of the devil" is the short form of the English-language idiom "Speak of the devil and he doth appear" (or its alternative form "speak of the devil and he shall appear"). The form "talk of the devil" is also in use in England. It is used ...

''. In 1988, they published ''Awake! To the Watch Tower'' by Doug Harris, later cited as a reference by Linda Edwards and Robert Crompton. In 1996 they published ''Mormonism A Gold Plated Religion'' by Michael and Ann Thomas. Maureen Davies, formally of the Reachout Trust, was cited as a "reliable source of information." She also wrote a large section in one of the ''File 18'' newsletters. More recently, the organisation has been consulted by the media in events relating to Satanism, and the group

Exclusive Brethren The Exclusive Brethren are a subset of the Christian evangelical movement generally described as the Plymouth Brethren. They are distinguished from the Open Brethren from whom they separated in 1848. The Exclusive Brethren are now divided in ...

. The first Reachout Convention was held in

New Malden New Malden is an area in South West London, England. It is located mainly within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and the London Borough of Merton, and is from Charing Cross. Neighbouring localities include Kingston, Norbiton, Rayne ...

Baptist Church in 1984. After that, it moved to

Kingstanding Kingstanding is an area in north Birmingham, England. It gives its name to a ward in the Erdington council constituency. Kingstanding ward includes the areas; Perry Common, Witton Lakes and Wyrley Birch. The other part of Kingstanding falls ...

Elim Church until 1991 when it was held at the Wycliffe Centre at

High Wycombe High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, south-southeast of Aylesbur ...

. Having outgrown that venue, it moved in 1996 to the Pioneer Centre near

Kidderminster Kidderminster is a large market and historic minster town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, south-west of Birmingham and north of Worcester. Located north of the River Stour and east of the River Severn, in the 2011 census, it h ...

. In 2008, it again moved to the more central location of

Hothorpe Hall Hothorpe Hall, in Northamptonshire, is a Georgian manor house near Market Harborough. It lies in the parish of Marston Trussell in Northamptonshire but is close to Theddingworth in Leicestershire. The hall is currently used as a conference cent ...

, Leicestershire. Since Doug Harris's death in 2013 the trust has moved more towards small groups, visiting churches, and online ministry. The first convention in ten years is being held in September 2022 a
The Hayes Conference Centre
Warwick, Derbyshire. From a group of people at the first meeting, the organisation has grown to over a hundred attending a full weekend of seminars. Seminars and workshops cover all the main religions the Reachout Trust considers

cults In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. This ...

, including the

LDS Church The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ...

and

, but also other groups such as

Freemasonry Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

, as well as instruction in dealing with the occult and the

New Age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars consi ...

. In 2002, David McKay of the group the

Jesus Christians The Jesus Christians are a Christian millennialist network of communes on five different continents. They occasionally do volunteer work, are frequently active politically, and regularly distribute Christian comics, books, pamphlets, and DVDs. ...

contacted the Reachout Trust through a

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

in order to elicit a response which he could then utilise to manipulate the media. McKay's plan backfired, and the results were documented in an article in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

''. Also in 2002, a member of the organisation commented on the potential influence of the film ''

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'' is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling and the second novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series. The plot follows Harry's second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, ...

'' on young children, stating that it may influence children to explore the

. In 2004, the organisation held a three-day conference in order to assist and consult with families affected by cults and the occult. In 2013 Reachout's founder, Doug Harris, died following a short illness. At the invitation of the trustees the leadership of the trust was taken up by Michael Thomas, a former

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into seve ...

and long-time friend and director of the trust.

References

External links

;Official links
Official Reachout Trust homepageArchives of the Reachout Trust homepage
as performed regularly by the

UK Web Archiving Consortium The UK Web Archive is a consortium of the six UK legal deposit libraries which aims to collect all UK websites at least once each year. History In 2005, the British Library, The National Archives, Wellcome Trust, National Library of Scotland, ...

;Other
Reachout Trust - SHIELDS
a response to Reachout Trust's work by the Scholarly & Historical Information Exchange for Latter-Day Saints

History

References

External links

See also