history
1892 An English Barrister, E P Field, preached to lunch-hour crowds in Martin Place, Sydney, Australia, and formed the NSW Prayer Band to support this ministry.
1913 The NSW Prayer Band was renamed the NSW Evangelistic Prayer Band.
1922 W Bradley changed the name to 'Open Air Campaigners'. Gospel wagons were used to take the gospel message to people throughout NSW.
1939 OAC worked among the armed services during World War II.
1940 - 1950 The work extended to the states of Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and overseas, firstly to New Zealand. It was during this period that the typical sketchboard painting method became the 'trademark' of the work.
By 1970 OAC was well established in North America, Britain and Germany.
During the 1970s residential ministry extended to the Netherlands and Italy, with openings being made in many other countries.
The 1980s saw definitive expansion beyond the traditional protestant homelands and the following decade saw the establishment of branches in the former Communist Block, Latin America and India.
1982 The Australian branches changed their name to OAC Ministries, to focus more attention on the co-operation between Outreach and Church Ministries.
Currently there are branches operating in 5 Australian states and in many countries around the world.