Peter Hill
As a young man, Peter Hill was a missionary with Operation Mobilization. November 1970, with wife Janet, Peter returned to England after four years in India and were surprised to find a much more ‘permissive’ society than the one they left.
It was the period when Britain was experiencing the ‘Charismatic Renewal’, where the Holy Spirit moved powerfully amongst the churches of our Nation.
Peter had a Vision, tens of thousands of young people gathering in London to take a stand for Christian moral principles and was soon in contact with a wide network of Christians and church denominations sharing his concern and offering their encouragement.
He formed a committee which resulted in the ‘Nationwide Festival of Light‘ and on Saturday 25th September 1971, many tens of thousands of people arrived in central London, with mass meetings in both Trafalgar Square and Hyde Park.
The NFOL turned into the Christian organisation CARE – Christian Action, Research and Education. Peter and Janet moved to Canada.
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Awoken at 1 am
Quite unexpectedly, 1 am, 25 June 2015, Peter was awoken to hear God clearly tell him, “Call the Nation to Prayer!”. He immediately knew this was the United Kingdom.
He tested this ‘word’, and receiving clear confirmation from key leaders in the UK and Canada, in April, then again in September 2016 Peter made exploratory visits to the United Kingdom, to renew and make fresh contacts amongst the Nation’s Christian leaders. (Read about Peter Hill’s April 2016 visit to the UK – click here and his September 2016 visit – click here).
The Call for the Nation to come to Prayer
We believe Call the Nation to Prayer (CTNTP) is simply a directive from the Lord – it is a move of prayer for this nation, called, initiated and orchestrated by the Spirit of God. It is a for the entire population of the United Kingdom, not just committed Christians or churchgoers – for all who will pray for the Nation and for all who will call others to pray.
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David Gilbey
Since the eighties, David Gilbey has been involved with local Christian groups and ministries in his home City of Chelmsford, Essex.
David was an Essex police constable and in 2011 ‘retired’ after thirty years service, believing that God had something significant ahead for him to be involved in.
Summer 2014, David was sitting in the big-top at a Christian Camp and clearly heard God tell him to start a prayer movement in his City. He resigned his job and early in 2015 Chelmsford 24-7 Prayer (now City Prayer), was birthed.
The vision given to David in starting Chelmsford 24-7 was that prayer would be a catalyst for real unity and relationship between the Christian denominations and traditions in his City. He also felt The Lord wanted him to be part of this more widely.
April 2016, during a prayer gathering at the World Prayer Centre, Birmingham, David unexpectedly met for the first time Peter Hill, who was over from Canada. Peter believed that David should be involved in Call the Nation to Prayer.
Even before meeting Peter, David’s heart was to see The Lord do something far greater in the UK than we have ever seen before and was already seeking to establish regional and nationwide connections and relationships with like-minded people who were involved in prayer and missional activity for ‘The Kingdom of God’.
The next steps
For the remainder of 2016 and during 2017, David and Peter started to work out what God wanted them to do with the CTNTP directive.
Further relationships with Christian Leaders, regionally and nationally were formed and small Steering Team was formed. Gradually God has revealed vision and ‘substance’ for each part of the journey.
Part of something much bigger
We fully recognise that CTNTP is a small part of something far bigger that God is doing throughout the UK and that there are many other groups and organisations who carry and are moving with a similar vision.
We therefore seek to:
Serve, encourage and bless what is already happening.
Join together with the other calls for prayer, large and small, to help link up the many centres of prayer, particularly connecting where little or no connection exists at present.
Autumn 2020, CTNTP partnered with The Rooftop, a Global ministry, equipping Christians to join Jesus in his mission by equipping disciples who make disciples. The Rooftop is inspired by Peter’s rooftop encounter with God recorded in Acts 10, which led to the spread of the Gospel ‘beyond the walls’ of the church.
David Gilbey – UK Coordinator for CTNTP, became the UK Pioneer for The Rooftop. Autumn 2022, he felt to stand down from this role. We wish The Rooftop well and the journey of CTNTP to connect with what The Lord is doing in the UK continues.
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Call the Nation to Prayer 