“We’re one step closer to building the world’s largest Christian landmark” reports Richard Gamble about the building of an “Eternal Wall of Answered Prayer”.
There’s a lot going on in the report in Premier Christianity from the association of a physical place with spiritual presence to odd hubris of declaring this an “eternal wall.” Then there’s the expectation that the site will draw visitors from far and wide in great numbers.
I’m tempted to remind the organisers that the last major attempt of this kind, when people sought to create a spiritual monument to draw people together was at Babel and that didn’t end too well! Generally speaking, the building of great shrines at huge costs hasn’t been a good thing for God’s people. I suppose that at least the building of the great basilica in Rome did lead to The Reformation so indirectly, something good did come from that.
The project, like big projects already seems to be running late too. In the article, we’re told that the site will open in 2026 but in the blurb about the article author and project leader, it was die to open in 2022.
I’ve mentioned Babel but there was one other big, landmark symbol of God’s presence to answer prayer that used to draw pilgrims from all around the world. It too cost great amounts of money and took years to complete. It wasn’t so much a wall of prayer as a house of prayer, the Temple in Jerusalem. The temple stood as a God given symbol of his presence with his people however, today all but one crumbling wall is left. The Temple was destroyed in AD70 because we no longer need such a symbol and because it had become a superstitious distraction.
We don’t need a giant landmark in Birmingham to remind us that God answers prayer because God has already provided us with reminders of his power to hear and answer. These are of course God’s people, meeting each Sunday to pray and to praise him. Each person a living testimony of God’s goodness.
We don’t need a giant landmark drawing people to gawp at it here in Birmingham because we have a far more urgent need. We need people to be praying for Birmingham because the big need here is for people in our city to turn to Christ and put their hope in him. We want people to be coming here not on sanctified tourist trips but to help in the mission of reaching people with the good news, making disciples and planting churches.
I would urge those behind this project to end it now and to put the money that is going into it towards meaningful gospel initiatives. They could help fund evangelists, church planters and pastors in this city. They could help a few churches that need buildings to meet in and serve their communities.
I would encourage you to pray for Birmingham and consider coming here to join in the mission. A number of us are seeking to see 30 new churches planted by 2030 with the hope that these will plant again in our life-time. What if you could be part of that. This would give a visible witness to the God who answers prayer.
Faithroots 