The Eternal Wall of Answered Prayer — a planned U.K. monument made of one million bricks representing one million answered prayers — promises to be the “largest symbol of hope in the world.”
“Each brick will recount a personal, specific way in which God has answered a prayer for people both now and in the past, offering a vast amount of experiences all explaining how God has come through for individuals in the midst of life’s storms,” the project’s website describes.
The white monument, which will be located in Coleshill, near Birmingham, U.K., will include prayers from around the world. So far, 85 countries have contributed. The organizers hope to include 90,000 prayers from the United States.
Interactive experience
The bricks will appear in the shape of a Möbius strip or infinity loop, with no beginning or end.
According to the project’s website, people will be able to spot the 169-foot tall monument from nearly six miles away. More than 500,000 “journeys” will pass by it each week, with visibility from cars, airplanes and trains.
Monument visitors will be able to read, listen or watch each prayer by pointing their phones at particular bricks using an app called “Bespoke.”
“The stories vary so much from parents [who told of] their unborn children being healed in the womb, to provision of food for a single mum, to Jesus helping a couple in their marriage then all the way to unusual ones like a sailor lost at sea but God guided him back to port,” Richard Gamble, the founder of the monument project, told Our Sunday Visitor. “We have 36,000 stories so far and already have a vast variety.”
The location will also include an educational exhibition on prayer, interactive touch screens to access answered prayers, a 24/7 prayer room, a café and Christian bookstore, a park area for prayer and reflection, and trained chaplains providing support.
‘God is still active’
The Eternal Wall of Answered Prayer is currently scheduled to open in 2026.
While they wait, supporters can submit answered prayers to be reviewed for the monument and donate online.
Organizers estimate that the monument will cost £10 million pounds — nearly $13 million. The majority of the funding comes from the public via crowdfunding.
Once construction is completed, all profits from the ongoing operation will fund “a million bricks worth of social housing,” according to the website. This will finance the building of 100 houses for social action charities, council housing associations, and international social housing charities. Further profits will also go into other U.K. charities.
In the first 20 years, the organizers expect the finished monument to raise more than £30 million, or roughly $38 million, for charities and good works.
The idea for the monument came from Gamble, who first thought of the project nearly 20 years ago, in 2004.
“I felt God give me the idea of building a wall where every brick represented a story of answered prayer,” he remembered. “First and foremost I want people all over the world to know that we worship a God who lives and is attentive to the cries of the heart. I want people to know that God is still active in this modern world.”
After he became a Christian in 1990, Gamble studied at Bible college before working for British Gas. He later co-founded a software business and a marketing consultancy. A soccer fan, he also served as the CEO of Sports Chaplaincy UK and was former chaplain of Leicester City Football Club.
Catholic support
The monument boasts the support of Catholics. The local archdiocese, the Archdiocese of Birmingham, is a partner, and Msgr. Timothy Menezes, dean of St. Chad’s Cathedral, is a member of the project’s Council of Reference.
“We are collecting answered prayers from Catholics all over the world,” Gamble said. “It is important to me that this monument represents the broad church, and Monsignor Menezes is playing a vital role to help us ensure that the Catholic Church is well represented in this work of art.”
In early June, Msgr. Menezes attended the blessing of the land where the construction will begin early next year, the archdiocese told Our Sunday Visitor.
“I’m really keen for the Catholic community to engage with this wonderful project; to support it by simply giving answers to prayer they have known; and also supporting it financially,” he said at the event. “It’s going to be an amazing structure in the Midlands, in the heart of England, where we belong; and a Christian symbol of hope, for a country that needs it so much.”
“The importance of prayer is at the very heart of this project,” he added. “Isn’t it exciting to think of such a public symbol of Christian Prayer in an increasingly secular society?”
Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham also endorsed the monument.
“I hope that all those who visit it will find some space and inspiration to consider the value of prayer in their lives,” he wrote in a statement available on the monument’s website. “The local Catholic community looks forward to playing its part in supporting this work so that together we can leave a legacy of faith for generations to come.”
