St James Anglican Church is a small wooden church set just off the main street in Franz Josef, on a slight rise. It was built in 1931 and is heritage-listed. The interest of the church is not the architecture, which is plain, but the picture window behind the altar: a clear pane of glass that originally framed a direct view of the glacier.
The glacier has long since retreated out of sight from this window, which is itself a memorable comment on how much ice has been lost. A small noticeboard explains the history. The church is open during daylight hours.