Clarenville has a new church, and it's made of Lego bricks

Maddie Ryan · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 27, 2025 12:30 PM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

There are 2 Anglican churches successful Clarenville: St. Mary's, and an identical 1 made of tiny integrative bricks. 

Rev. James Spencer has been a Lego fanatic since helium was 8 years old, and helium says helium inactive has his aged gathering sets to beryllium it.

He felt a burst of inspiration erstwhile helium archetypal started moving astatine St. Mary's Anglican Church. 

"I thought, 'You cognize what, this is simply a beauteous building. I'd emotion to effort and spot if I could really enactment it together,'" Spencer told CBC Radio's Newfoundland Morning.

That's precisely what helium did. 

Spencer started by measuring each aboveground successful the religion truthful helium could standard it each down. Even the windows and artwork are each the aforesaid — helium says the instrumentality was taking pictures of them and printing tiny stickers to enactment connected the bricks. 

Lego St. Mary's is simply a true, one-to-one exemplary of the existent building, Spencer says. It took him the amended portion of a twelvemonth to physique and helium says the parishioners admit the handiwork.

"I was thoroughly impressed," said Paul Tilly, who heard Spencer talking astir his task for the past respective months.

"He didn't lone bash this one, helium did 1 for the religion successful Burgoyne's Cove, and I was amazed astatine however overmuch of a replica of the existent happening it was," said Tilly. "He's done a phenomenal job."

Spencer says sourcing immoderate of the Lego pieces was a hard task and helium utilized immoderate of the banal from his idiosyncratic collection, but had to caput to immoderate online shops for extortion tiles and different scarce-types of bricks.

The small Lego radical wrong the replica religion aren't identical, but Spencer recognizes each and each 1 of them.

"There's me, and there's a small miss successful the congregation who ever brings a small stuffed dog," helium said.

Spencer didn't halt creating erstwhile helium finished the replica church. Downstairs astatine the existent St. Mary's, helium hosts the church's caller Lego nine connected Thursday afternoons.

Spencer says it's an enactment for everyone, including young Parker Johnson who says alternatively of playing video games successful his room, helium tin present bash thing new.

"I've ever wanted to build, but I ne'er had the pieces," said Johnson, who was inspired by Spencer's work, too.

"I truly similar the details, and if you conscionable look, everything is the same," helium said. "Even the small bluish poster that's implicit there. It's ace elaborate and that's wherefore I emotion Legos, 'cause you tin conscionable do, like, insane things with them."

What's adjacent connected Spencer's Lego bucket list? He says he's going to instrumentality small St. Mary's to the Blocks connected the Rock league successful St. John's acceptable to instrumentality spot successful a fewer months. 

For now, it has a peculiar spot adjacent the existent church's altar.

Download our free CBC News app to motion up for propulsion alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador.  Click here to sojourn our landing page.