About us & our Vision

Chelmsford 24-7 Prayer is an initiative to bringing together Christians, their churches and local Christian organisations, through prayer.

Unity, or ‘being as one’, through friendship and true love for each other only truly comes through the gospel of Jesus Christ, through the bond of the Holy Spirit. Together, by praying in His Name and taking the Good News of Jesus Christ out into our communities, we are seeing transformation, blessing and revival over our City and District; to the lives of all who live, work or visit here.

We see ourselves as a Catalyst and seek to work in ever greater partnership with The Local Church* and Christian organisations. We are clear to all we work with, that in line with the Great Commission of Jesus, (Matthew 28: 16-20), our primary motivation is to work to see the people of our City come into a radical life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ and to become His Disciples.

All we stand for is fully grounded in the teachings of The Bible, the Word of God to mankind.

*We are formally associated with the City-wide Christians Together in Chelmsford group.

Where did the vision come from?

David Gilbey has lived in Chelmsford all his life, and since 1980, has been a committed Christian and a member of Life Church, an Elim Pentecostal Church, in the centre of the City. In 2011, he ‘retired’ after 30 years service with Essex Police. For several years before this, he had believed that God had something significant for him to be involved with in his City, but was not sure what.

In August 2014 David attended a Christian summer camp where he clearly heard God call him to start a city-wide Christian prayer movement in Chelmsford.

With the blessing and commissioning of his Church, he immediately left his work with a local social housing provider to pursue this vision. Early in 2015, a Steering Group was formed to take things forward.

We introduced a Prayer Support Team consisting of 20 or so Christians from several local churches, who meet regularly, pray over Chelmsford and who also listen and speak prophetically into what God might be saying to us and for our City.

What happened next?

March 2015, Chelmsford 24-7 was launched with a City and District wide Week of 24-7 Prayer. An estimated 300 people, from over 40 local churches, local Christian groups and organisations signed up online to pray in 1 hour slots. All the 168 hours of the Week were filled.

2016-03-14 10.34.37 — Prayer Space at North Avenue URC in 2016

Looking beyond, David then heard God speak about creating ‘Portable Prayer Spaces’, transporting and setting up resources to guide prayers, for a few hours at a time at different churches on various days.

Now several times a month, with some churches running their own, Prayer Spaces are where people can encounter God, pray for the City, Nation, World, or anything else on their hearts.

Stepping out

2017-01-02-11-26-59 — Prayer Walk in ‘The Bunny Walks’ Chelmsford January 2017

Prayer Walking makes us a visible presence in our City Centre and Communities, seeking to bless and pray for the The Kingdom of God to come to our streets.

WP_20170501_10_02_48_Pro — At the Retreat House open day, Pleshey, May 2017

We also have a gazebo, for use as a Prayer Tent, at community events during the Spring and summer months. Do get in touch if you would like us to consider coming along to your event

Other initiatives

Chelmsford 24-7 Prayer has also initiated and been involved with other prayer and outreach initiatives around Chelmsford. Details can be found here.