25 Christians You Must Know!

"Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith."

-Hebrews 13:7 ESV

Here are 25 enormously influential people from the past 2,000 years. They have likely influenced you whether you are aware or not! None are perfect. Some have incredible stories of martyrdom. Others were powerful preachers. Some were effective evangelists while others were brilliant theologians. Some in the following list also influenced the church in negative ways. All are important to know due to the influence they exercised on the church in various ways.

25 Christians You Must Know!

1. Clement of Rome - bishop of the church in Rome who wrote a letter to the church at Corinth, was probably discipled by Peter, and may have been mentioned by Paul in Philippians 4:3

2. Ignatius of Antioch - bishop of the church in Antioch who was likely a disciple of the apostle John and was martyred in the early 100s

3. Polycarp of Smyrna - likely was a disciple of the apostle John (along with Ignatius), he wrote a letter to the Philippians, was a teacher of Irenaeus, and was martyred for the faith

4. Irenaeus - student of Polycarp who defended the faith from false teaching, wrote many works, and was pivotal in helping us know which books should be in the Bible

5. Justin Martyr - a teacher and writer who defended the faith, lived in the 100s, and who was ultimately martyred; he gave one of the earliest records of a Christian worship service

6. Perpetua - a brave young woman and mother from North Africa who was persecuted and martyred for the faith in the early 200s

7. Athanasius of Alexandria - a powerful defender of the faith in the 300s against false teaching; he was particularly pivotal in arguing that Jesus is both fully God and fully human

8. John Chrysostom - an archbishop of Constantinople in the 300s, he had a significant influence on the Eastern church and was called "golden-mouthed" due to his preaching abilities

9. Augustine of Hippo - a bishop and theologian who was massively influential among the Western church; he lived in the 300-400s and later influenced Thomas Aquinas, Martin, Luther, and John Calvin

10. Thomas Aquinas - he lived in the 1200s and was an influential medieval Catholic scholar, philosopher, and theologian

11. Martin Luther - he was a Catholic monk in the early 1500s when God opened his eyes to the gospel and to various unbiblical practices happening in the Roman Catholic Church. He is considered the father of the Protestant Reformation

12. Thomas Cranmer - he was the first Protestant archbishop of Canterbury, a pivotal person who contributed to the Book of Common Prayer, and was martyred

13. John Calvin - he was a French theologian in the 1500s who played an influential part of the Protestant Reformation and continues to influence today (his followers, called Calvinists, disagreed with Arminians on a few key points of doctrine, see the next person!)

14. Jacob Arminius - a Dutch pastor and theologian who lived in the 1500s and famously disagreed with John Calvin on a few key points of doctrine (his followers, called Arminians, disagreed with Calvinists)

15. John Smyth - he lived in England in the late 1500s to early 1600s and is considered to have been the founder of Baptists in England

16. John Owen - a Calvinist and Puritan pastor, writer, and scholar at Oxford in the 1600s who influenced his country, the church, and persevered during persecution and suffering

17. John Bunyan - an influential Puritan pastor and writer in England during the 1600s who was imprisoned and produced The Pilgrim's Progress

18. John Wesley - an Arminian Anglican evangelist who produced significant theological works and became the co-founder of Methodism

19. George Whitefield - a powerful Calvinist preacher who traveled and preached thousands of sermons to millions of people in the 1700s and was a contemporary of John Wesley and Jonathan Edwards

20. Jonathan Edwards - considered by many to be one of the best and most influential theologians in North America; he was a Calvinist who defended the legitimacy of the revival

21. Charles Spurgeon - a Baptist pastor and preacher in London during the 1800s who was heavily influenced by John Calvin and the Puritans; he had a distinct preaching style, and he saw many conversions

22. Fanny Crosby - a prolific song-writer who primarily lived in the 1800s, she wrote thousands of songs despite being blind (some say as many as 9,000 songs!)

23. Charles Finney - an Arminian revivalist preacher who lived during the 1800s in America and significantly modified worship liturgy with altar calls

24. Charles Parham/William Seymour - key people in the Holiness movement (which was influenced by Arminianism and was primarily birthed from the Methodist Church) who experienced revival and were massively influential in America in the early 1900s and the movement later developed into Pentecostalism

25. Billy Graham - a dynamic evangelist who preached to millions by traveling and preaching in the 1900s