Central was first a mission church. We were gathered in 1888 to minister to Tennessee Town (a community of ex-slaves from the South) and Washburn University (which was one of several colleges founded by the Congregational Church).

Our first pastor, Charles M. Sheldon, was a champion of the "social gospel", believing that the Christian faith should be acted out by politically as well as personally, advocating for social solutions to the oppressive aspects of racism, sexism, and drug abuse.

In 1896, he wrote the book "In His Steps", which became enormously famous. This was one of his popular "serial" sermons, in which he read a chapter a week until the story was concluded. It is from this work that the wildly popular WWJD? rage has sprung. What Would Jesus Do? was the key question of Sheldon's story, and still guides us today.

In that spirit, we founded the first African-American kindergarten west of the Mississippi, responded to the 1966 tornado by opening Doorstep (a helping agency now comprised of over 50 congregations), and addressed technological literacy by creating The Computer Center.

Today, we continue this central focus on the social gospel, providing concrete hope and help for concrete needs, and advocating justice for those who are oppressed by the dominant culture.