Building church unity through relationships and prayer
Portsmouth City Mission has been set up as an independent charity to bring Christian RE teaching into primary schools in Portsmouth.
We aim to start going into schools from January 2027 and we need your help to get us funded. We are applying for grants, but looking for donations, ideally regular monthly ones. If lots of people give small amounts, it soon adds up, so every gift is very much appreciated.
To give to PCM, go to our giving page here.
Thank you.
Please add Sunday 16th May 2027, Pentecost Sunday, into your church calendar for a day of united city worship and outreach!
One Body Portsmouth are working with Alun Leppitt, who had the original idea for Festival of Hope, to make it happen next year.
Our vision is for a joint church open-air event in Portsmouth, with a united worship service in the morning, followed by a picnic lunch, fun day and worship music and gospel proclamation throughout the afternoon.
We are inviting EVERY CHURCH in the city to take part – what can you bring to the table? We will need worship leaders and musicians for the morning, along with stage and AV setup, stewards throughout the day and lots of different things in the afternoon, whether it’s a bouncy castle or a tent for prayer and healing. What could you do?
To indicate if your church/group wants to be involved, please fill in this very quick form (this is for churches not individual volunteers just yet!):
Every Wednesday from 7 to 8am we are inviting prayer for the city of Portsmouth. This meeting is for prayer warriors, church leaders and those with a desire to seek God’s will for our city.
One Body Portsmouth and House of Prayer Portsmouth announced the start of these weekly citywide prayer meetings in June 2026, called Watchmen Wednesdays.
For July, we will be meeting at All Saints Church, 334 Commerical Road, Portsmouth, PO1 4BT from 7-8am every Wednesday.
Meetings will also be on Zoom, meeting ID 876 8235 1259 (no password).
Join our Facebook group to keep track of which church is hosting us each month: www.facebook.com/groups/watchmenwednesdays/
Details of venues will also be found in the calendar here.
We want to encourage the whole church in the city to pray together and to seek God’s face. The role of watchmen in the bible is to pray continually and to watch for God’s will and listen for God’s voice. These prayer meetings are aimed to be as much about listening as about speaking, so come open and ready for both.
Isaiah 62:6 NLT
“O Jerusalem, I have posted watchmen on your walls; they will pray day and night, continually. Take no rest, all you who pray to the LORD.”
Habakkuk 2:1 NIV84
“I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.”
And to be crystal clear, we’re calling these prayer meetings ‘Watchmen Wednesdays’ because there is no English word for ‘watchwomen’ or ‘watchpeople’, but every person, both male and female, is most definitely sought after to be part of this and very welcome indeed.
Some of you will remember that Portsmouth had citywide prayer meetings on a Wednesday morning for many years and we think it’s time to bring that back to life in a new form – our city needs prayer!
We want to see the Watchmen Wednesdays feeding words from God into the church leadership of the city, thinking maybe to ask for one key message from each Wednesday which can then be passed on to leaders for further prayer and consideration. What might God say?
We believe that God is calling us to seek Him TOGETHER for His blessing on our wonderful city. There is much that God wants to do and He wants us to partner with Him.
Will you join us and take part?
For several years, House of Prayer Portsmouth and One Body Portsmouth have worked together to encourage Christians to prayer walk every street in the city.
We feel it is time to prayer walk our streets again. Our vision is to be seen as the Church of Portsmouth standing in unity for our city, to release a blessing and God’s life to our city (Psalm 133). Also, to pray for the prosperity of our city (Jeremiah 29 v 7) to invite God’s Kingdom to come and His will be done in every sphere of Portsmouth, in greater measure, and to contend for a greater awakening for the people of Portsmouth.
Part of the success of previous years was having a Google app available so people could register the streets they have prayed, and others could see which streets have already been prayed for. We will again be using this app to aid the highlighting of prayed streets. We plan to open the app between 1st April until 30th September 2026.
For more information, contact Mark Macey at hopportsmouth@gmail.com
At the very heart of One Body Portsmouth are our monthly church leaders’ meetings.
We gather on the first Thursday of every month (except August) to build unity through relationships and prayer.
Our normal meetings start at 9am with half an hour for drinks and talking with bacon sandwiches or a vegan option available if you book in advance. Then we either have a presentation from somebody about a ministry or movement that concerns the whole of the city, or an encouraging word from a speaker for 10-15 minutes or we go straight into prayer.
We always finish with a time of prayer, often praying for one another in small groups. Everyone is free to leave whenever they need to, with the main part of the meeting finished by 10am, but discussion and prayers often going on until 10:30 or so for those who want to stay.
Find the detailed programme here.
For more information, contact steve@onebodyportsmouth.com
Church Impact Portsmouth seeks to gather, inform and celebrate the amazing work the Portsmouth churches do to bless our local neighbourhoods across the city of Portsmouth. Church Impact Portsmouth is conducting a Social Action mapping that builds a database of all churches and Christian charities across Portsmouth.
Church Impact Portsmouth, working with Gather Movement, is coordinating a mapping project of churches and charities in the city of Portsmouth. The aim is to identify and document services provided by these groups that support:
The project will culminate in a comprehensive mapping report and a Faith Celebration event in Portsmouth in 2026/27, where findings will be shared and used to spark action-oriented faith networks.
For more information, contact Impact@onebodyportsmouth.com