In my opinion- The Top 5 historical events in church history that influenced the church today are:

https://www.christianleadersinstitute.org

Starting with my overall perspective, I have noticed that efforts of the faithful have made the biggest impact on the overall foundation of our church values, creeds, and standards that we as Christains today- hold fast to. We memorize them, we use them in our worship services, and without their influence in our prayers and in our lives, the structure we depend on to keep us united as a community of faithful believers would not be, ( in my opinion) as strong as it is today.

Some historical facts on Christianity I found helpful were those from my Church History class at CLI.. The stats are as follows:

Of 6.4 billion people on earth in 2005, about 2.1 billion or 33% identified themselves as Christians.

Africa, which had 8.7 million Christians in 1900, now has 389 million Christian believers, and almost 600 million African Christians are predicted by 2025.

Latin America claims 511 million Christians.

Europe is the only continent where the number of Christians is declining and expected to continue to decline.

*Source: David Barrett- Annual Statistical Table on Global Mission

However, there are other well known sources of Christians mentioned in church history that we know today to have been the foundation of the Christian Faith that we know and I believe to be the most influential.. These are::

The faithful Christians that funded the nurses and monks responsible for the nursing profession;

Christians who took compassion over their own lives in caring for the disabled, elderly and outcasts;People like Clara Barton, Florence Nightingale, Henri Dunant of Disciples of Christ- better known to us as the Red Cross; and other sources of compassion and caring that are derived by Chirstians or enabled by them in some way... ie..The Salvation Army, United Way, Prison Ministries, Abolishing Child Labor, and providing round the clock care for the aged and disabled in quality nursing homes and retirement homes..

Without Christians caring nature and compassion over the ages- we would not have the world we do today, and I am glad we live in a time that Christian Faith is dominant.

Ok.. So that being said- There has to be something that the faithful Christians are doing, right?

YES.

IT is because of the faith of lay people ( notice I did not say ministers,,) -that we have Christianity today at all..

The apostles were all killed -martyrs for Christ.. So who spread the work to the people??

The followers of those disciples.. The people who took their beliefs and shared with who ever would hear them. They were exiled to new lands for this purpose! IF no one ever moved away from their homes the word would not get around. So being told to leave their homes and the land they knew- was the way God spread his word so that even those of us here in the Americas- would hear it. Let's face facts.. If it was not for God's inspiration to move people- we would sit right where we are... I am very thankful that His love is much greater than what I can imagine.

So to recap.. The first historical event- was the finalizing of the apostles creed, the nicene creed and orders for worship and prayer in the church. Many of which traditions are still the nuts and bolts of Worship today.

The second event is how God moved his people to make sure His Word- would be known in all the world.

The third event I would like to talk about is the fact that John the apostle wrote in shorthand and most likely to include verbadem the words spoken during his time. We can trust the words in the bible as truth by a trusted person.. How do we know he was trusted? Did not Jesus himself put him in charge to care for his earthly mother Mary? John had one on one time with her as well as being a witness to the miracles, death, resurrection, and prophecy of Jesus Christ in the book of Revelation according to his devine intevention from above.

We can trust the Word as truth.

Fourth on my list, but obviously first in my heart- is Christ's life , death, burial, resurrection, witnessing ,miracles, and the gift of the holy spirit.. If I am to call myself a child of God. And God is my Father in heaven, then I am also looking at my own family history.. The events that happened - were for me- and for you - if you call him your Lord and Savior and believe that Jesus came in the flesh and believe in the gospel truth. To believe in the history of the church, and the faith of believers, then one has to also believe in this. That Jesus came to save us from our sins and will come again to judge the living and the dead.

The Fifth historical event in history that influenced the church today- was that God never let us go so far astray that his word could not be shared.

Let me explain...

After Jesus returned to heaven, what happened to believers? Some waited for him to come back. Some went on to act as if Jesus's death was for nothing and went back to the old ways of sacrificing to false gods in their pagan beliefs. Others believed in God but not the son, and kept part of the laws and not others. There were years and years of exiles and turmoil and no one seemed to really understand fully the truths and facts that occurred.. However, there were those who did believe.. The Christians..

Though mocked and beaten and killed for their faith- they would not deny Christ.

For they knew ... They knew that no matter what happened in the flesh to their bodies- their spirits belonged to the one and only God. The Father of the one who walked among them.

So even with this small group ( that grew large only due to the house to house church meetings and sharing the word with one another)- the message of the Gospel truth spread.

The fact is- we have it today because of people like you and I ...

In every corner, every meeting that was held, every counsel for leaders to be put into a place of leadership, every broken area of sorrow-there was a chrisian.. living the example of Chirst. When pagans let their children starve to death becasue they were not born male- it was the Chirstians that gave them food and love and raised them .. In areas where widows were left to die as was the tradition for some misled sects that held to the belief that when a husband dies the wife also should die and burned them to death- IT was the Christians that would care for their widows , their sick, their poor, those in need.... you get my point in this..

In conclusion... The influence that was behind all the the things that we hold cherished today- is the loving heart of Christ - alive within us who choose to believe.

You can go on an make hundreds of examples of how people came up to be leaders, or how God guided them, or placed them in situations that led to rules being drawn up and creeds made- but in all of those things.. Its all about the condition of the heart. The fact that God's hand is in it all... I hope this blesses yoiur day and perhaps you would like to know more about dates and timelines and facts in Church History,, Well, If that's you.. Why not enroll in CLI.. It's free and all that is required is your time. God's Blessings always.... Rev. Lily.

This blog is not ready yet. Im a workin on it. :)