The Eternal Wall will be built near Birmingham. Photo: Infinity Labs.,,,
The UK’s first crowdfunded national Christian monument is under construction. Its creator Richard Gamble tells Direction how he hopes it will restore hope and encourage visitors to explore faith in Christ
“It’s the biggest evangelistic opportunity for a generation,” says Richard Gamble about the national Christian landmark he is spearheading – the Eternal Wall of Answered Prayer. And now the construction team are set to begin the access road to the ambitious monument.
The Wall, which will stand 51.5m high between the M6 and M42 in Coleshill near Birmingham, will feature one million accounts of answered prayer and include visitor and education centres. An app will also allow visitors to search for prayers by criteria such as location, date and subject.
The aim, Richard explains, is for the wall to restore hope and help visitors renew or explore faith.
As the main monument is constructed, he plans to open a temporary visitor centre and the first block of the wall so people can start to visit. With this in mind, he tells Direction he is keen to engage Christians and churches in a vital element of the project.
“The wall will have 94 blocks and we’re splitting these up regionally, so we’ll say, ‘this block is for Cumbria and this one is for Portsmouth’, for example.
“We’re hoping to engage with churches and ask them to help us build their block with their stories of answered prayer.
“Then, when somebody visits from, say, Newcastle, they’ll be able to type ‘Newcastle’ into the app and read stories from there.”
Richard has been thrilled by the wide variety of stories already submitted.
“We have one from some people who got stuck in sand in a jeep with the tide coming in, for example. They couldn’t move and were panicking. They prayed, then a massive bloke appeared, pushed the car out of the sand and ran off before they had a chance to thank him.
“We want people to see and hear these stories, to have their faith inspired and to be provoked to pray.”
Crucially, he adds, the stories also reflect people’s journeys with God. This means some are more challenging to read.
“We have one from a couple who prayed that God would heal their young daughter, but she died. For them, the answer to prayer was no, but the power of that story was the journey and how they look back on this eight years later and say it’s enabled them to discover a joy in Christ which is way deeper than any event or circumstance.
“Different stories will stand out to different people depending on where they’re at.”
Richard has his own stories of answered prayer when it comes to building the Eternal Wall, including the time he was praying for a Christian construction manager and the senior construction project manager for the Commonwealth Games felt the Holy Spirit prompt him to get involved.
There is also the time a planning committee was set to vote 14-nil against the project but eventually voted 13-1 in favour.
Richard points to the economic benefits of the project that may have contributed to this decision. For every one of the million bricks in the wall, another will be donated to fund social housing. And once 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.
But Richard is equally animated about the project’s spiritual benefits.
“We live in a society where people have lost their job for wearing a cross, so it’s huge to build something that will be two-and-a-half-times the height of the Angel of the North that is unashamedly Christian.
“We’re trying to provoke a national conversation about prayer because Christianity has been sidelined for too long.
“We hope that anybody who visits will be provoked to consider prayer and whether Jesus can be part of their life. It will also give any Christian who’s a part of it an incredible opportunity to share their faith. They can say, ‘I’ve got a brick in that wall – let me tell you my story of answered prayer.’”
From Direction Magazine issue 233
