Red Nose

The Church Street project is officially complete! Shall we, as they say in the statistics biz, slice and dice the data? Total distance: 14.6 miles of New Hampshire Avenue, Montgomery County Maryland, between Route 29 and Route 97. Total number of houses of worship: 34 That's about 2.3 houses of worship per mile. Number of Christian houses of worship: 30 Evangelical Christian: 6 (Iglesia de Dios, Eun Sam, Tiempo de Gracia, First Alliance, Immanuel's Church,... Read more →

Here we are at the end of our visits to the many houses of worship along New Hampshire Avenue, from Route 29 to Route 97. It's another little white house, this time with a big cross on the front to differentiate it from the others. This church, like some of the other wee ones, doesn't have a web site. I'm willing to bet, though, that they have food! Thanks for coming on this journey with... Read more →

For our last church along New Hampshire Avenue, I bring you Resurrection Baptist Church. I saved this one for later in the list because I was hoping that it would be completed before this series was -- alas! It is still under construction -- a pre-natal house of God, if you will. The congregation is currently meeting in a local school; I'm sure they will enjoy praising God in this simple but elegant building. As... Read more →

Whereas this Kingdom Hall is located right next to a huge evangelical Christian church, today's Kingdom Hall is set back from the street on a little wooded lot. Like all the halls, this one is modest and utilitarian, but I think the angle makes the light pole look a tiny bit like a steeple. No? Okay. Maybe not. Neither has its own website, but both link up to the main site for the Jehovah's Witnesses,... Read more →

Here is the bright white home of Shiloh Christian Fellowship. It's funny -- there are Shiloh Christian Fellowships all over the country. They're in Minot, North Dakota; Oakland, California; New Orleans, Louisiana; Manchester, New Hampshire; even Baltimore, Maryland! But while the congregation of Shiloh Christian Fellowship of Silver Spring, Maryland has no home on the web, it certainly has a home in this little House of God. And I'm willing to bet they have a... Read more →

This modest house with its tall white steeple is the Eun Sam Evangelical Church. This picture is not all that great, because the church is at the bottom of a steep driveway. At the bottom of the driveway there was not enough room to get a decent shot of the entire church. But imagine, if you will, a plain brick rambler on the other side of the steeple, and you've got it. I think this... Read more →

Here is the Washington Spanish Seventh-Day Adventist Church. It's right next door to the Gospel Chapel -- and looks quite a bit like it, only less pointy. I used Google Translate to look at their site, so I may be slightly off base, but one of their fellowship offerings is the By the Cross Cafe! Primarily for young people, it offers music and snacks on Friday nights. There are only a handful of churches to... Read more →

The Tiempo de Gracia -- Time of Grace -- Ministries building looks more like an elementary school than a house of worship to me, but God is everywhere. I can't find a website for this particular place, so I have no idea whether they have a food-based fellowship. They do, however, have a van! Read more →

Up on a hill, overlooking New Hampshire Avenue, is Saint Stephen Lutheran Church. Written on the wall just to the right of the door is the phrase "God's Work, Our Hands." I really wish you could see the stained glass windows over the entrance better, but follow this link and you'll get a sense not only of the windows, but of the rest of the art that makes up this sacred space. And yes, they... Read more →

Right next door to the Emanuel-Brinklow Seventh-Day Adventist Church is this stately mosque: It looked abandoned when I took this photo. The light shining in the second-floor window made me think that it was still an active place of worship, so I googled and wiki-ed (there, a new verb!) until I found their site. This masjid, or mosque, is the holy house of the Islamic sect Dawoodi Bohra, an Indian offshoot of Ismail Shia Islam.... Read more →