All right, ladies and gentlemen. It’s time to get serious. 
Jody has shared a church with us.
I have shared a lot of churches with us.
Does anyone else out there have a church to share with us?
Anyone? Anyone?
Jody suggested collecting prettiest and ugliest churches, but perhaps we could come up with some additional categories.
Church That Looks Most Like a Church and Church That Looks Most Like Something Other Than a Church are two which spring immediately to mind, as does Most Ingenious Non-Ecclesial-to-Ecclesial Building Makeover.
Let us reason together. I’m thinking you all could submit links to photos via the comments section for this post, and we could post them. Maybe some web-literate person on the FT staff, by which I mean someone who is not me, could design us a button to go in the sidebar, so that the contest doesn’t get lost in the welter of redemptive consumer goods which are the bread and butter of this site.
Just thinking out loud here . . .
UPDATE: Thank you very much, Nathaniel, for kicking us off. This is a contender for Prettiest Church, Church-Least-Likely-To-Be-Mistaken-For-a-Chick-Fil-A, and many other happy categories, I’m sure.
And here’s another. Does Central Europe mop up the Best Use of Improbable Color Combinations category, or what?
Okay, the rest of you. Don’t be shy.
UPDATE #2:
From The Millinerd: Churches That Make You Uncomfortable aaaaaaaand Best Church Stairs.
Maclin Horton offers a famous contender in the “Desperate Churches for Desperate People” Category.
Reader RS gives us the new chapel at Thomas Aquinas College as an example of a rare “Beautiful Church Built in the Last Ten Years,” as well as interior and exterior views of his own parish church.
Joseph gives us an example of Expensive Postmodern Bad.
Keep ‘em coming.
UPDATE: Active Categories
Prettiest Church
Ugliest Church
Church That Looks Most Like a Church
Church That Looks Most Like Something Other Than a Church
Best/Worst Non-Ecclesial-to-Ecclesial Building Makeover
Best/Worst Architectural Feature (stairs, doors, etc)
Farthest Outside the Comfort Zone
Desperate Churches
Got a new category? Add it now.
You have a decision to make: double or nothing.
For this week only, a generous supporter has offered to fully match all new and increased donations to First Things up to $60,000.
In other words, your gift of $50 unlocks $100 for First Things, your gift of $100 unlocks $200, and so on, up to a total of $120,000. But if you don’t give, nothing.
So what will it be, dear reader: double, or nothing?
Make your year-end gift go twice as far for First Things by giving now.
