'God-centered' originates from Modern English, specifically the combination of the English noun 'God' and the adjective-forming element '-centered' derived from 'center', where 'God' refers to the deity and '-centered' indicates 'having X as the center or focus'.

'center' changed from Greek 'kentron' (meaning 'sharp point' or 'fixed point') to Latin 'centrum', passed into Old French as 'centre' and Middle English as 'centre/center', and eventually formed the adjective pattern '-centered' in Modern English; 'God' comes from Old English 'God' (from Proto-Germanic *gudan). The compound 'God-centered' is a Modern English coinage using this adjective pattern.

Initially 'kentron' denoted a physical 'point' or 'sharp instrument', but its descendants came to mean 'middle' or 'focus'; over time the suffix '-centered' developed to mean 'having X as the central focus', and thus 'God-centered' came to mean 'having God as the focus' rather than any literal point.