Several have asked where has CAT (Christadelphian Advancement Trust) came from, where is it now and where is it hoping to go if the Lord will? The germ of the work started in 1951 in an endeavour to preach the Truth via Correspondence Courses. In the next five years there were a few baptisms in the UK and limited advertising abroad, with the first baptism in 1956 in South Africa, which was quickly followed by a few more. The late 1950s and early 1960s saw a number of baptisms in West Africa and consequently the formation of a Committee to deal with that area. Interest was being generated world wide and once baptisms were achieved numerous small Committees were formed to look after individual Countries. By the 1980s we were getting at least 2,000 enquires for literature a year – one year 6,000. In 1992 it was decided to form a Registered Charity which, in addition to giving a tax advantage, meant accounts were given to the Charities Commission and also independently audited. In addition to the preaching aspects a considerable amount of pastoral work is involved.

Our Aims
Our main aim is supporting the spread of the Gospel world-wide, and assisting those converted and their families. We have seven trustees, all members of various Central fellowship ecclesias mainly situated in England. We produce fully audited accounts each year and are fully accountable to the UK Charities Commission.

We see ourselves not so much as missionaries, but background support for the good work done by the various missionary organizations and individuals in the brotherhood. We seek to supply resources and appropriate expertise as a service to the entire brotherhood in their missionary endeavours. We are comprised of a group of brethren with wide and long experience throughout the brotherhood; we seek solely to serve the entire brotherhood and empower, so far as we are able, the many wonderful initiatives which there are underway.

Over the years our especial focus has become the production of literature in many languages. Our largest publication has been Bro. Duncan Heaster’s work Bible Basics , which is now available in over 50 languages, and has gone through over 100,000 copies. Requests for this book come in from all over the world, thanks to the internet. The CAT has mailed out an average of around 600 pieces of literature / per week for more than 10 years; and there is no sign that the interest is abating! Rather is it increasing, as the Truth spreads world-wide. We especially encourage newly baptised brethren and sisters to translate literature into their native languages.

The CAT have mailed literature to almost every country on the planet - from Greenland to Iraq to remote Pacific Islands.

The CAT have sent thousands of copies of Bible Basics to libraries world-wide- resulting in baptisms in New Zealand, the UK and North America. Our aim is to place a copy of Bible Basics in every library on earth. We’ve also distributed the book in prisons, resulting in baptisms of prisoners in the Caribbean, USA and UK.

In addition to Bible Basics, the CAT publish a wide range of other preaching literature: Introducing Bible Basics, the Bible Basics full colour doctrinal leaflets, full colour general advertising leaflets etc. We have also published a number of books in Russian and other languages, in order to provide follow up pastoral care for those baptized who do not know English.

There are probably nearly as many Christadelphians in the mission field as there are in the Western heartlands of Christadelphia. These brethren and sisters scattered throughout the poorer parts of the world, are often without longstanding ecclesial experience. The CAT feel the burden of helping to support them when and where we can. We seek to integrate them with the rest of the community and encourage them to form local ecclesias, and to take as much responsibility for themselves as they can. One way we do this is through the publication of Gospel News magazine. Through the magazine we encourage local brethren and sisters to communicate with each other, write articles, share photographs, communicate with each other and report upon their efforts to preach the Gospel and establish fledgling ecclesias. This magazine is largely by them and for them. The only problem is… that we are probably the only major Christadelphian magazine that has a readership who can’t pay for their copies! And so we have to find funds for printing and mailing the 3,000 copies of the magazine which we send into the mission field every two months. We have to find 30,000 GBP (US$58,000) per year for this work. And it’s increasingly difficult for us.

CAT also acts as a conduit for the brotherhood’s donations to be used for various specific projects. One recent example has been our invitation of the sponsorship of the books Where There Is No Doctor and How To Grow A Balanced Diet. We are great believers in encouraging self-help wherever we can; in providing a fishing rod rather than a fish. Many copies of these books have been sent out to the very large number of brethren and sisters in the developing world who desperately need this kind of help.

In addition to the publishing work, CAT has also played a part in helping our persecuted brethren in fleeing from death sentences and other persecution. We are able to make immediate response to issues, and have built up quite some experience of appealing to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and other agencies. We’ve been able to respond immediately and relevantly when the various crises have occurred, and have worked profitably with other Christadelphian agencies and committees in the work of helping our persecuted brethren get to safety. Being an officially registered Charity in the UK, who also have local-language speakers as our co-workers on the ground, we have been the ones to appeal on behalf of the Christadelphian community for the lenient treatment of military service cases before tribunals in the ex-USSR, and to introduce our persecuted brethren from Iran to the UNHCR. The CAT has always been the Christadelphian body under whose auspices the initial Iranian applications to the UNHCR have been made. All of the Iranian brethren who have either gained or still seek asylum were introduced to the UNHCR under our umbrella, and the majority have gained asylum. The CAT has been happy to have been of assistance to the brotherhood in this way. However, there are new cases coming up all the time, and we ask for your continued prayerful support of our work.

The CAT also work to provide relevant welfare aid to those in need. There are many brethren and sisters whose needs are not met by any other organization and we seek to help as we can.

The CAT is also keen to support the work of individual brethren and sisters world-wide as they seek to establish interest in the Truth through welfare projects as well as direct preaching.

We could summarize our work like this: The great spiritual truths which our Heavenly Father has entrusted to the Western Christadelphian community have quite rightly been shared by us with the rest of the world. The CAT are happy to support this work, to take the Truth "into all the world". We do, however, see a situation developing whereby the sheer size of the response is so great that our work must revolve around making the new converts independent and self-sustaining, rather than relying upon the West. And yet, that said, there are daily requests for serious and major welfare support coming to our ears, which we realize we are intended by our Father to respond to. We ask for your support in whatever way you can, and especially for you to remember the CAT in your legacy. Any donations can be gift aided and we accept cheques in any currency

We have no paid staff and a minimum of administrative expenses.

We would be delighted to send a free sample issue of Gospel News to any interested in supporting our work, or to arrange for a presentation at your ecclesia about our work.

For more information, please contact:

Chairman: Marcus Heaster, 49 Woodfields, South Croydon, Surrey CR2 0HJ ENGLAND bible.basics@onetel.net

Treasurer: Roger Richardson, 32 Wingfield Rd., Lower Knowle, Bristol BS3 5EH ENGLAND Roger.Richardson3@btopenworld.com

Representatives in Australia and New Zealand:

Steve & Robin Jones, P.O. Box 152, Menai, NSW 2234 robinthered@hotmail.com