Central United Methodist Church 23 E. Adams * Detroit, Michigan 313-965-5422

CENTRAL'S  PASTORS DEFINE THE CHURCH

A new church house was built to meet the social needs of the growing young adult population in the church's neighborhood. Dr. Lynn Harold Hough, pastor from 1920-1928, lambasted the U.S. for not joining the League of Nations and accused the Daughters of the American Revolution of trying to 'gag critics of the U.S'. In 1929, during the pastorate of Dr. Joseph M. M. Grayu (1928-33), the Chinese Church welcomed its first full-time Chinese pastor. The ministry Dr. Frederick Bohn Fisher and his wife Welthy (1934-38) reached out to and drew from Detroit's many ethnic communities including African Americans, Polish and Chinese. Fisher spoke to Catholics, Protestants and Jews about the evils of both communism and pacifism, but was still accused of being a 'Red' by the local media.

The Crane Years

Dr. Henry Hitt Crane, who served Central for twenty years, its longest serving pastor, was noted for his pacifism during World Wars I and II and for founding the Detroit Roundtable of Protestants Catholics and Jews (which more recently has been expanded to include Muslims as well). Many of Central's members have been conscientious objectors, some serving time in jail for their beliefs. Central has long been active in civil rights and anti-war protests.

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