Personal Freedom Outreach

Personal Freedom Outreach (PFO) is an Evangelical organization that serves to "educate Christians about the dangers and heretical doctrines of religious cults, to use the Gospel of Jesus Christ to reach members of those cults and to warn Christians of unbiblical teachings within the church itself." PFO operates its ministry from three separate post office boxes, with the main office located in St. Louis, Missouri. PFO consists of 10 people, including seven officers and three board members.

Focus
PFO was founded by M. Kurt Goedelman in 1975. PFO publishes tracts and other materials that biblically critique the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormonism, The Way International, the Unification Church, Christian Science, Christadelphians, and other controversial religious movements.

PFO publishes the Quarterly Journal since 1981 (since 1988 under that name), which is a scholarly journal. It has included articles on Protestant teachers and organizations which it considers marginal such as Benny Hinn, Rebecca Brown, Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Bill Gothard, Joyce Meyer, and the Trinity Broadcasting Network, as well as groups which it considers cultic or theologically aberrant.

Standards and credentials
PFO is a member in Evangelical Ministries to New Religions and has cosponsored a conference where they adopted a comprehensive manual, establishing guidelines in theology and ethical conduct for member organizations of the countercult network. The standards are inspired by the Lausanne Congress in 1974.

Bud Press of the Christian Research Service has endorsed PFO for their "well-written and researched articles, editorials, news updates, and book reviews."

They have also been laudably evaluated in scholarly literature. Everett Shrophire and John Morehead note the wealth of information possessed by organisations as PFO and envisions a central place for them in the coming challenges to Christian mission. Paul Carden makes much the same observation.