Who We Are

OPEN  AIR CAMPAIGNERS - USA / Box D / Nazareth / PA / 18064

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

Open Air Campaigners is an evangelistic ministry of preaching the Gospel to lost people and mobilizing the body of Christ primarily through effective open-air outreach.

MOTTO

"Presenting Christ By All Means Everywhere"

WORLD PERSPECTIVE

Since multitudes of people never go inside our churches, Christians must go out to where the people are, reaching them with the wonderful message of salvation. OAC reaches these lost men and women, boys and girls in parks, fairs, factories, housing projects, at the waterfront, schools, and universities. Converts are referred to sound local churches.

The early Church went everywhere preaching the Word. Philip, the evangelist, traveled from town to town in Judea and Samaria preaching the Gospel. The apostle Paul stood daily in the market place of Athens proclaiming Jesus and the resurrection. Christ taught that He is the only Savior of lost mankind. He said, "No one comes to the Father, but by Me� (John 14:6). Compelled by His love, the first Christians evangelized the known world. Today, as multitudes are dying without Christ and without hope, the Lord of the harvest calls us to be involved in evangelizing the whole world. �How shall they hear without a preacher?� (Rom 10:14b)

Evangelists serving with Open Air Campaigners are committed to reaching lost people with the life-saving message of the cross. Called by God, they have been encouraged by their local church, theologically grounded and trained in specialized front line evangelism. Above all, they depend upon the Holy Spirit to use them as faithful servants in ministry.

Using the sketch board, object lessons and films to proclaim God�s Word in over twenty countries around the world, our staff find themselves being used of God in the lives of many individuals. Hundreds are enrolled in Bible Correspondence Courses, personally graded by OAC staff and volunteers.

Over the years, our methods have changed, but our focus has not. We aim to introduce people to Jesus Christ by going to where the people are, using the most effective means possible to communicate the Gospel.  We strive to work with local churches to help equip them in reaching out to people in their communities.  We also train Bible College students, missionaries, pastors and many lay people in methods of modern, creative, Christian communication.

How did God work to get us started in all this?  Glad you asked!  Read on ...

HISTORY
(Click on pictures to view larger version)

 
Open Air Campaigners began in 1892 when a lawyer in Australia named E. P. Field, began preaching the Gospel in Sydney. He was concerned that the majority of Australians did not attend church. If someone did not take the Gospel to them, how would they ever hear?  The group of people who came to help E.P. Field first called themselves the New South Wales Prayer Band. Later, the name Open Air Campaigners was adopted.

Following the principle of taking the Gospel to where the people are, rather than waiting for them to come to us, Beach Sunday Schools began. OAC teams regularly took the Gospel to Australian beaches, reaching crowds of young people who rarely, if ever, went to Sunday School.  OAC�s evangelists have always been innovative. Early in our history, we adopted visual techniques, using sketch boards to illustrate our messages.

Before the second world war, we were using Gospel Wagons so teams  could quickly take the Gospel to many people. We used music, drama, puppets, object lessons and more to communicate clearly and powerfully to non-captive audiences.
                                                          

The hymn writer from America, Homer Rodeheaver, visited in Sydney and reported: "I have been in the thick of evangelistic work for 20 years; Billy Sunday and I thought we had explored every avenue of doing God's work effectively, but I have come to Sydney only to discover we have more to learn.  Those efficiently equipped vans eclipse anything in America."  It was not until 1956 that Open Air Campaigners came to North America when an invitation came from Dr. Paul Smith of the Peoples Church in Toronto, Canada.  The team toured for seven weeks, ministering in key cities in the United States and Canada.

Jim Duffecy led the initial team and had a profound impact upon the entire history of the work in North America.  Mr. Duffecy and his dear wife, Joyce, were born in Sydney, Australia.  He was converted to Christ at the age of twelve at an Open Air Campaigners meeting at Coogee Beach.  Joyce was four years old when the Lord saved her in Sydney. For twelve years, Jim was employed as a photo engraver on the staff of "The Sydney Sun," one of Australia's largest newspapers.  Joining the staff of Open Air Campaigners in 1940, Mr. Duffecy spent three and a half years  working with the Australian Army.  After World War II, he became a staff evangelist in Sydney before being appointed as Field Director for OAC.  In this position, he  opened the first overseas branch of Open Air Campaigners in New Zealand in 1954, then during 1956, led the team mentioned above to Canada and  the USA, which spearheaded the commencement of the first North American  branch in Chicago.  Jim and Joyce moved their family to the States the next year where Jim became North American Director and later opened the New York City branch during the 1964 World's Fair.  He was appointed International Director at the first International Conference of Open Air Campaigners in 1966 and in 1978 became the International President.  Mr. Duffecy was promoted to heaven in 1983 followed by Mrs. Duffecy in 2003.

Currently, the ministry of OAC extends to over 20 countries around the world.  In the USA, OAC staff minister in  Boston, Los Angeles, New York, Baltimore/Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Orlando, Kansas, Minnesota and Wyoming.  

EVANGELISM IN AMERICA

The Statistics

In addition to the average man on the street in America, there are a mix of diverse people groups needing to hear the salvation message as well.  These include cultists, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs. Other people-groups in the USA and Canada include 35 million handicapped, 10 million alcoholics, 7 million Jews, 4 million inmates in the prison system, 2 million native Americans, 2.5 million French-speaking citizens and �migr�s in varying numbers from every nation in the world. There are 27 million Hispanics in our land and nearly 1.6 million American Chinese who remain almost as pagan as those living in China!

(Source: "Missions In North America" by Dr. A. Earl Parvin)

 
Evangelists serving with Open Air Campaigners are committed to reaching lost people with the life-saving message of the cross. Called by God, they have been encouraged by their local church, theologically grounded and trained in specialized, front-line evangelism. Above all, they depend upon the Holy Spirit to use them as faithful servants in ministry. Using the sketch board, object lessons and films to proclaim God's Word, our staff find themselves being used of God in the lives of many individuals. Hundreds are enrolled in Bible Correspondence Courses, personally graded by OAC staff and volunteers.

Evangelists on OAC staff make it a priority to not only do the ministry, but find faithful men and women who they can teach to do the work as well. Two national open-air training seminars take place in June each year (one in Pennsylvania and another in Boston). This training consists of some lecture and workshop instruction, with the vast majority of time spent in on-the-job open-air ministry. Special seminars are held periodically to provide training in all aspects of open-air work.

DOCTRINE

The Scriptures: We believe God inspired all the words of The Bible without error in the original writings to give mankind His authoritative message.

The Godhead: We believe in one God eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Jesus Christ: We believe in His full deity, His virgin birth, His real humanity, His sinless life, His substitutionary death, His bodily resurrection, His ascension into Heaven, His present ministry as High Priest and His future personal return to this earth.

The Holy Spirit: We believe in His full deity. He convicts sinners and saves those who believe in Christ. He indwells, seals and places believers into the body of Christ. He gives spiritual gifts and the power to live the Christian life.

Man: We believe that God created all things as described in Genesis. We believe that the first man, Adam, sinned bringing spiritual death to all mankind, who, therefore, stand condemned, making the new birth absolutely necessary.

Salvation: We believe that God gives eternal life to those who repent and put their faith in Christ alone, justifying them by the blood of Christ and imputing His righteousness to them.

The Church: We believe in the universal church to which all believers belong. We believe in the importance of the local church which is made up of believers who gather for worship, fellowship and teaching. We believe in the responsibility of the Church to fulfill the Great Commission of Christ, preaching the Gospel to all nations.

The Future: We believe in the eternal existence of the soul, the resurrection of the body, the eternal blessedness of believers, the eternal punishment of unbelievers.

Accountability

In an effort to be good stewards of all the Lord has entrusted to us, the leadership of Air Campaigners is governed by a Board of Directors made up of individuals varying in vocation and geographic diversity.  The majority of this leadership membership is comprised of non-staff members who have a deep desire to see the Gospel presented to this lost and dying world.  

In addition, our mission has voluntarily submitted the finances, policies and procedures of this organization to the scrutiny of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA).  As a member in good standing with this agency, we attempt to keep open communication and above-board behavior in all our operations.  Regular audits of our finances, bylaws and policy manual by certified individuals outside of Open Air Campaigners is done in a spirit of cooperation and full disclosure.           

         

Have specific questions?  Feel free to  contact our office at any time.

 

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