I wrote this post after seeing the Sandcrawler building. Our church is functional but I would be much happier going to work in a Sandcrawler. This post got so many hits because, for a while, if you Googled “Helm’s Deep” the picture in this post was the top result.
George Lucas is building a new home for the Singapore-based LucasFilm Animation. Below is an artist’s rendering of what that building will look like.
Most. Awesome. Building. Ever. 
I don’t think I would ever want to leave work if I worked in a building that looked like the Jawas’ Sandcrawler. I would show up for my first day of work and just stay there forever.
I would shower in the sink.
I would set up a hot plate and eat beans out of a can every meal.
I would jump out of my cubicle and scare my fellow employees every morning by yelling “Utini!!!”
I can’t think of a more perfect office building than a huge, reflective Sandcrawler. But what would make the perfect church building?
There are plenty of different church buildings around the world. This summer I’m going to help build a simple cement block church building in Honduras. There are underground churches that literally meet underground. There are megachurches across America with campuses that function like small cities.
In spite of all the churches I’ve seen, though, I’ve never seen a church as cool as a giant Sandcrawler building. Here are some potential buildings that could make a church as cool as LucasFilm Animation’s new home.
The Dawn Treader
C.S. Lewis’ The Voyage of The Dawn Treader tells the further adventures of Narnia as Prince Caspian attempts to sail to the end of the world. His ship, the Dawn Treader, is multi-colored and has a dragon’s head at its bow. How sweet would it be to sit in a church building that was shaped like a giant dragon ship? It could even be an open-air building with sails used as shelter when it rained. The dragon’s mouth could also be fitted with firework launchers for any church celebration or when the pastor hits a homerun with the sermon.
Helm’s Deep
The Two Towers is my favorite of the LOTR movies mainly because of the scene at Helm’s Deep. I get goose bumps every time the elves show up and when Gandalf rides up at the end. If my church looked like Helm’s Deep I don’t think I’d ever want to leave. I spend a lot of time at church as it is, but if I could reenact my favorite scenes from The Two Towers it would become my first and second home. Helm’s Deep is a little foreboding, though, and its walls might give people the wrong impression. Church’s should be inviting places in which people feel welcome. That is unless the people are bloodthirsty Uruk-hai looking for a taste of man flesh.
U.S.S. Enterprise
There have been numerous versions of the U.S.S. Enterprise seen in different Star Trek movies and television series. If I was going to make a church that looked like one, I would choose the NCC-1701-D. A great part of my childhood was spent watching Star Trek: The Next Generation and I can’t imagine another starship making a better church. The Enterprise-D was big, clean and had a lot of families on board. Church’s should be places for everyone but meeting the needs of young families and their children ensures that Christ will be passed on to the next generation (pun completely intended). Granted the Star Trek universe is based upon a godless philosophy of secular humanism, but it would still be sweet to have phasers on a Sunday morning.
I like going to church but my nerd heart would jump at the chance to worship God in Helm’s Deep or the Enterprise. In the end, though, the building doesn’t matter as much as God’s people gathering together. But if we’re going to gather together anyway, why not do it with a little nerdy style?
What type of building would you like your church to look like?
What a fun post! The Dawn Treader is an especially appropriate choice, given the long tradition in Christian art and architecture of visualizing Christ’s church as a ship (often an ark, a la Noah; I guess that stretches back to 1 Peter 3; also, of course, the old cynics’ joke about the church being like Noah’s Ark in that, “You couldn’t stand the stench inside if it weren’t for the storm outside!”)
Rivendell would be a pretty cool place to gather. Of course, the unathletic like me would have trouble scaling to the treetops!
Just today I saw this image of, not so much a nerdy church building, but definitely an interesting one: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2079804/German-church-opens-entirely-snow.html?ITO=1490.