Open Air Campaigners (OAC) will celebrate 40 years of sharing Jesus Christ in Britain this year with a special open air meeting on the beach at Brighton and Hove where the first OAC meeting took place four decades ago.

OAC was originally founded in Sydney, Australia in 1892, dedicated to the mission of 'Presenting Christ by all means everywhere' with particular emphasis on open air and outgoing evangelism.

The day of celebration in Brighton and Hove will mark 40 years since British evangelist David Fanstone was commissioned to begin OAC's work in Britain in 1967. On Easter Sunday, 14 April 1968, Mr Fanstone and a team of young people from his church held the first official OAC meeting on the Brighton and Hove seafront.

The open air meeting in Brighton 40 years ago was the starting point of OAC's growth and the ministry now covers the United Kingdom and more than a dozen countries in Europe.

The ministry's methods have also evolved over the last four decades, seeing the ministry transition from open air preaching to now include schools and prisons ministry using creative means such as drama and escapology, as well as innovative sketchboard illustration.

The 40th anniversary celebration will include an open air meeting on the Brighton and Hove seafront near to the spot where Mr Fanstone and his team held the first open air was held. A Thanksgiving Service, which is open to the public, will be held at the Bishop Hannington Church in Hove on the theme 'OAC Past, Present and Future' led by the National Director Dave Glover.

The society has trained numerous effective communicators of the Gospel over the years. The Thanksgiving Day will be an occasion to praise God for the past but also to pray that OAC will remain one of the leading evangelistic agencies in the UK today.

Mr Fanstone said: "OAC has always recognised that the gift of evangelism is given to many Christians within the church who are not called to be full time evangelists. Finding these people and training them to preach in the open air has been one of the keys to spreading the work.

"The sketchboard illustration method of preaching is an ideal way of introducing people to speak in public places. Once they have mastered the art of communicating the Gospel on the street, they are equipped to minister in schools, prisons and so fulfil the OAC strapline of 'Presenting Christ by all means everywhere'."

For more information, go to www.oacgb.org.uk