Open air evangelism is taking the gospel to the streets so everyone has a chance to hear the good news. Many people will never enter our churches, so we want to go where they are. Christians throughout the ages have done open air evangelism. Even in today’s society, people stop and listen, and many people have come to Jesus.

Although the ministry is called ONTHEREDBOX, and it is very attention-getting standing on a red box in the public square, it is just a method. There are thousands of methods we can use to engage people (songs, dramas, puppets, coffee shops, tent crusades, personal relationships, etc.). But the most important part of the ministry is the MESSAGE we preach. The complete gospel message needs to be the foundation of all evangelism and include: the problem (sin), the consequences (eternity), the solution (the cross), and the call (to repentance and trust in Jesus). We call these the Four Columns of the gospel message, and every one of them is essential to the evangelistic message.

Being elevated above other people is a real advantage when you are doing open air evangelism. We use a box because we can store our preaching objects, tracts and gospel portions inside it, but also, when we stand on top of it, people can see us better, and hear us better since we preach without a sound system.

It doesn’t have to be red, but red is a color that’s very striking and people say, “Hey look, someone is standing on a red box!”

Illustrated messages capture people’s attention with an object and a story, and provide a memorable comparison with the gospel message. We use practical examples of how we break the ten commandments so that the Holy Spirit can bring conviction of sin. Explaining God’s judgement and the eternal consequences of our sin gives understanding of their need for a Savior. Then as we present the solution to their problem, Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, they will have a greater appreciation of what he did for them. Finally, we urge them to repent of their sins and surrender to Jesus, so that can have forgiveness and life. It is so important that the evangelist is filled with the love of the Father as he shares this life-changing message. We have 100 different illustrated messages available for people to use HERE.

We need to prepare ourselves spiritually, so we pray for several hours before we go to the streets. We worship, we intercede for the lost, and we pray for God’s anointing on our lives. We also prepare our illustrated messages, testimonies, and personal evangelism, and then go to the streets.

Just about anywhere in Europe there is freedom of speech. But you will need to find out whether public expression is legal in each city. In Spain it is legal to do open-air preaching. But Christians can do personal evangelism anywhere.

Looking at it from God’s perspective, there is no such thing as a bad night of evangelism. Just going out makes it a successful night. Just preaching the gospel makes it a successful night. Just being able to get the gospel seed into somebody’s heart, that makes it successful.

We made a commitment several years ago that, no matter what the weather is, we’re making a commitment to God and to our team that we’re going to go out. If it’s raining, we bring umbrellas, if it’s cold, we dress warm. As long as there are people on the street, we’re going to be there to talk with them.

We look for a place where there are a lot of people that are walking by, a place where there is not a lot of traffic noise, and a place that’s acoustically advantageous for open air preaching, for example in front of buildings.

We find that in the square where we are doing evangelism, there are many tourists who don’t speak Spanish, but do speak English, so that’s why we have translation. We have also noticed that more people stop and listen to us when we translate.

Our goal is that the Holy Spirit would come down on the street, and convict people of their sin. So we communicate a pure gospel message that invites the Holy Spirit to bring conviction of sin, which leads to repentance, and then a genuine conversion. That doesn’t happen every night because I can’t convert anybody. That’s the work of the Holy Spirit. But what I can do is challenge the people and bring them one step closer to the cross.

God needs us and we need Him. The Bible says, “we are co-laborers with Christ”, and “how can they hear without a preacher?” Our part is small, but God is not going to do it without us. So we need to go out and present the gospel, and He does the rest.