I’m working on a brochure to hand out during Palmyra Day ¹ and the template I’m using has spaces for quotes near the bottom. I thought this would be a great place for testimonials about Central so I headed over to Facebook and asked the family, “If you could describe Central in one sentence, what would you say?”

Several people over-achieved and shared one word ², but one member shared two gems,

If Monty Python were serious about spreading the gospel they’d be in good company here because life is absurd and so are we.

and,

Off the wall, a bit odd yet strangly hospitable, CBC is dedicated to living out the gospel in a way that’s not quite traditional but not quite modern.

If these don’t describe the “Land of Misfit Christians” to a T, then nothing ever will.

Central’s culture isn’t for everyone. People really need to be willing to embrace their own absurdity, and “a bit odd” might be an understatement. We aren’t a “not church as usual” church ³, nor are we distilled into any one Christian tradition. We’re a Baptist church which follows the church year, sings the Lord’s prayer classical style, and occasionally sings hymns accompanied a banjo.

We’re “strangely hospitable” because we’re a group of socially awkward people, and we’re fairly clueless as to how we “assimilate” people who aren’t already in our social circles, so we smile a lot and make fun of each other ⁴.

And yet, somehow, it works. Because life is absurd, and so are we ⁵.