Nathan Bangs that year, youth of the city put gunpowder in the candlesticks and cut the mane and tail off his horse.

Case wrote to Bishop Asbury that he found it difficult to find "any serious people" in Detroit, but did note that there were a few who wanted to form a congregation.

In 1830 Sheriff Thomas S. Knapp, who was a member of Central, resigned rather than carry out a hanging on the commons right outside the church.

Members joined a throng so horrified by the hanging that they threw the flogging post into the river and demanded an end to capital punishment in Michigan.

Dr. Fisher redesigned the now recessed divided chancel to include a pulpit, lectern, and reredos of Appalachian white oak, and a mural of the 12 apostles.

He was much criticized for this ostentatious sanctuary, to which Fisher once responded, "I challenge any man or woman who thinks he has found reality because he worships in some crass, unbeautiful church.

Central has taken a strong stance for the rights of unions to organize and was the headquarters for the strike against both of Detroit's major newspapers in the 1990s.

Central is cosponsor of The NOAH Project (Networking Organizing Advocating for the Homeless), which operates a Community Center, serving lunch four times a week, one-on-one social services, volunteer nurses, a Job Readiness Class, and an arts program for the homeless.

[5] The original church campus included the sanctuary, a chapel, an office building, and a parsonage on Adams Street.

[3] At the same time the sanctuary was remodeled, with a new recessed chancel with an elevated pulpit and lectern, and high altar carved of Appalachian Mountain White Oak by Grand Rapids master wood carver, Alois Lang.

The main altar has a 30 ft (9.1 m) high reredos carved of Appalachian Mountain White Oak also by woodcarver Alois Lang.

[3] On the arch surrounding the altar is a mural of the 12 Apostles painted by Detroit artists Elliott and David Skinner, who were members of Central at the time.

Those symbols were taken from the Temple of Heaven in Peking (China), the Mosque of Omar in Jerusalem, and the Vatican's Sistine Chapel.