The world’s largest Christian landmark moved a step forward with a special ceremony.
The Eternal Wall of Answered Prayer will be built between the M6 and M42 near Birmingham, with leaders of all denominations now having attended a ‘blessing of the land’ service, pictured above.
Founder and visionary behind the wall, Richard Gamble, described the ceremony as “a significant step closer to reality”, with head architect Paul Bulkeley welcoming “an important milestone”.
Bishop Mike Royal, general secretary of Churches Together, opened the event. He said: “We witnessed the gathering of a broad spectrum of senior leaders and people from a wide variety of different church denominations, all coming together in prayer to bless the ground so that work can begin on this landmark. Today was a true moment where the church stood together in unity.”
More than 300 Christians took part in the three-day blessing.
The wall, at 169 feet tall, will be visible six miles away, and is due for completion in 2026.
It will feature one million accounts of answered prayer and include visitor and education centres. An app will allow visitors to search for prayers by criteria such as location, date and subject.
For every one of the million bricks in the wall, another will be donated to fund social housing. When the monument is generating income, profits will be donated to Christian charities Hope in Action and Cornerstone, along with other good works. In its first 20 years, the wall is expected to generate more than £30m for such causes.
