Reachout Trust

Infobox Organization
name = Reachout Trust


image_border =
size = 150px
caption = Logo, Reachout Trust


msize =
mcaption =
motto = "Building a Bridge of Reason"
formation = 1982
extinction =
type = evangelical Christian ministry
headquarters = Surrey
location = GBR
membership =
language = English
leader_title = Founder, director
leader_name = Doug Harris
num_staff =
budget =
website = [http://www.reachouttrust.org/ Main page]

Reachout Trust is a British evangelical Christian organisation. Its stated aims are to "Examine in the light of the Christian gospel the beliefs and spirituality of people within the cults, occults, new age and all not upholding to biblical truth."

Reachout Trust deals with many different groups including Jehovah's Witnesses, the Latter Day Saint movement, and Christadelphians 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.

Reachout Trust communicates perceived dangers of those groups' beliefs and/or practices to the evangelical Christian community and presents Christian gospel from an evangelical perspective to members of those groups. The organisation is based in Surrey UK. [cite book
last = Gruss
first = Edmond C.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = The Four Presidents of the Watch Tower Society (Jehovah's Witnesses)
publisher = Xulon Press
date = 2003
location =
pages = 188, 191
url =
doi =
id = ISBN 1594671311] Reachout Trust produce articles on their website, publish books and booklets, and organise conferences.

History

The organization was formed in 1982, under director Doug Harris. [cite book
last = Arweck
first = Elizabeth
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Researching New Religious Movements: Responses and Redefinitions
publisher = Routledge
date = 2006
location =
pages = 132, 194
url =
doi =
id = ISBN 041527754X] Their first newsletter produced in 1984, was four pages long and consisted of a few hundred photocopies. Today's "Quarterly" is sixteen pages and growing and goes out to several thousand individuals and churches across the country. This was later discussed further in La Fontaine's "Speak of the Devil".cite book
last = La Fontaine
first = J.S.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Speak of the Devil: Tales of Satanic Abuse in Contemporary England
publisher = Cambridge University Press
date = 1998
location =
pages = 38, 136, 137, 163, 165, 166, 174, 194, 213, 214
url =
doi =
id = ISBN 0521629349] In 1988 they published "Awake! To the Watch Tower", later cited as a reference by Edwards [cite book
last = Edwards
first = Linda
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = A Brief Guide to Beliefs: Ideas, Theologies, Mysteries, and Movements
publisher = Westminster John Knox Press
date = 2001
location =
pages = 559
url =
doi =
id = ISBN 0664222595 ] and Crompton. [cite book
last = Crompton
first = Robert
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Counting the Days to Armageddon
publisher = James Clarke & Co.
date = 1996
location =
pages = 153
url =
doi =
id = ISBN 0227679393 ] Maureen Davies, formally of the Reachout Trust, was cited as a "reliable source of information." [cite book
last = Jenkins
first = Philip
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Intimate Enemies: : Moral Panics in Contemporary Great Britain
publisher = Aldine Transaction
date = 1992
location =
pages = 171, 177, 260
url =
doi =
id = ISBN 0202304361] [cite book
last = Medway
first = Gareth J.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Lure of the Sinister: the unnatural history of Satanism
publisher = NYU Press
date = 2001
location =
pages = 222, 230, 240, 297, 300
url =
doi =
id = ISBN 081475645X ] More recently, the organization has been consulted by the media in events relating to Satanism. [cite news
last = Sturcke
first = James
coauthors =
title = Navy satanist will not have to choose between devil and deep blue sea
work = The Independent
pages =
language =
publisher = Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd.
date = October 25, 2004
url =
accessdate = ] [cite news
last = Carter
first = Helen
coauthors =
title = The devil and the deep blue sea: Navy gives blessing to sailor Satanist
work = The Guardian
pages =
language =
publisher = Guardian Unlimited
date = October 25, 2004
url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,2763,1335337,00.html
accessdate = ] , and the group Exclusive Brethren [cite news
last = Halpin
first = Tony
coauthors =
title = Top marks for sect schools that shun the modern world
work = The Times
pages =
language =
publisher = Times Newspapers Ltd
date = March 21, 2005
url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article433080.ece
accessdate = ]

The first Reachout Convention was held in New Malden Baptist Church in 1984. After that, it moved to Kingstanding Elim Church until 1991 when it was held at the Wycliffe Centre at High Wycombe. Having outgrown that venue, it moved in 1996 to the Pioneer Centre near Kidderminster. In 2008 it will again move to the more central location of Hothorpe Hall, Leicestershire.

From a group of people at the first meeting, the organization has grown to over a hundred attending a full weekend of seminars. Seminars and workshops cover all the main cults including, of course, Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses, but also other groups such as Freemasonry, as well as instruction in dealing with the occult and the New Age.

In 2002, David McKay of the group the Jesus Christians contacted the Reachout Trust through a pseudonym, in order to elicit a response which he could then utilize to manipulate the media.cite news
last = Ronson
first = Jon
coauthors =
title = Blood sacrifice (part two)
work = The Guardian
pages =
language =
publisher = Guardian Unlimited
date = April 6, 2002
url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4386864,00.html
accessdate = ] McKay's plan backfired, and the results were documented in an article in "The Guardian". Also in 2002, a member of the organization commented on the potential influence of the film "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" on young children, stating that it may influence children to explore the occult. [cite news
last = Tinniswood
first = Rachel
coauthors =
title = Fantasy tales led me into witchcraft
work = Liverpool Echo
pages =
language =
publisher = Trinity Mirror
date = November 16, 2002
url =
accessdate = ] In 2004, the organization held a three-day conference in order to assist and consult with families affected by cults and the occult. [cite news
last = Staff
first =
coauthors =
title = In the dark
work = Birmingham Evening Mail
pages =
language =
publisher = Birmingham Post & Mail Ltd.
date = November 12, 2004
url =
accessdate = ] [cite news
last = Staff
first =
coauthors =
title = Aid for victims of the occult
work = Birmingham Evening Mail
pages =
language =
publisher = Birmingham Post & Mail Ltd.
date = October 14, 2004
url =
accessdate = ]

References

External links

;Official links
* [http://www.reachouttrust.org/ Official Reachout Trust homepage]
* [http://www.webarchive.org.uk/tep/12940.html Archives of the Reachout Trust homepage] , as performed regularly by the UK Web Archiving Consortium;Other
* [http://www.shields-research.org/Critics/rot.htm Reachout Trust - SHIELDS] , a response to Reachout Trust's work by the Scholarly & Historical Information Exchange for Latter-Day Saints

See also