Originally published in The Gospel Herald
The Wall of Answered Prayer, made of a million bricks — each representing how Jesus answered someone’s prayer — will be built as a national landmark in the UK.
The purpose of building the wall is to lead people to “consider and reflect the worth of prayer,” to allow people to share stories of how God answered their prayers, to become a source of inspiration regardless of faith or culture and to “be a testimony of God’s goodness to all people,” according to The Wall website.
The project is being led by Christian entrepreneur Richard Gamble, former chaplain to Leicester City FC, who said the vision to undertake the work came to him 13 years ago.
At the time, he heard God tell him to carry a cross around Leicestershire, something he admitted was a bit odd. He obeyed it anyway because he “wanted people to think about Jesus during Easter.” About 250 000 people saw him walking around with a cross.
Build a wall
While he was walking around carrying a cross, God instructed him to build a wall.
“He gave me this idea of building a wall of a million bricks with every single brick representing an answered prayer,” he said, according to CBN News.
The wall would not be like an ordinary wall. It is expected to become “a national icon demonstrating to the world that Jesus answers prayer.”
In April 2016, a Kickstarter account was set up for the wall’s construction. Amounts donated corresponded with a particular number of bricks. For example, those who pledged £5 will get one brick, which will be linked to them and their unique story of how Jesus answered prayer. Those who pledge £40 will get four bricks, and so on.
Watch the story behind the Wall of Answered Prayer below:
Database of prayer testimonies
A corresponding website will be created to give details of the answered prayers. It will be like a “database of a million prayer testimonies.” People may find situations similar to theirs, and reading about how God came through in those instances could bring them hope.
The site of the wall itself will be designed to draw people to know more about prayer.
The project will also donate one brick for social housing for every brick in the wall. This would help build 62 shelters in all.
The team behind the Wall of Answered Prayer launched a global architectural competition in partnership with RIBA Architecture in search of the best “worldclass” design for the structure. The competition received 134 entries from 24 countries.
Design finalists
The five concept design finalists were introduced at a reception held in Parliament, which was hosted by Stephen Timms MP, who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Faith and Society. He was also part of the panel of judges for the competition.
“I hope it’s going to secure a really firm place in Britain’s national consciousness, just like great churches and cathedrals have done in the past,” Timms said.
Timms is not the only one who is looking forward to have the wall built as a national monument. Richard Anniss, head of King’s Church in Manchester, said he is excited to have a structure that will serve as a “testimony” that Britain believes in “the God who answers prayer.”
“What really excites me is when I first heard the vision is just this idea of Christians from all over the nation come together raising up a monument, raising up a testimony to our nation we really believe in the God who answers prayer,” said Richard Anniss, the leader of the King’s church in Manchester.
