Heroes Matter: Expanding the List

Here are some additional examples of Christians who have reshaped our world. This is by no means an exhaustive list. These names will lead to others.

I am always looking for ordinary people who made an extraordinary difference through the power of Christ. In a culture that is always highlighting the mistakes made in Jesus name, we need to be ready to show the very real difference Jesus has made through his people. I never want to sweep the mistakes under the rug, but the good far outweighs the mistakes. Your students should have many real-world examples of Christ's work to carry with them.

Health Care
Saint Basil - established the first hospital in Caesarea 369 AD. This was the first of many resulting from a decree from the Council of Nicea. In the end, the work the Council began lead to hospitals throughout Europe and eventually to our modern system of hospitals.
Florence Nightingale and the founding of the Red Cross.

Prison Reform
Elizabeth Fry worked with women in prisons and led the way to major reform.
Chuck Colson's work in prisons. Colson began his prison experience as an inmate after pleading guilty to conspiracy charges during the Nixon administration. This led to his conversion to Christianity and a life-time devotion to bringing the gospel to prisoners.

Artists
Rembrandt, Michelangelo, and Rubens.
Writers such as Annie Dillard, Walker Percy, Flannery O'Conner, Leo Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Charles Williams, Madeline L'Engles.

Music
Avoid the modern Christian contemporary music scene if you want to make your point. Musicians who create for a general audience are the ones who have made the greater difference in the world.
Bach, Handel, Mendelssohn, Haydn.
On the contemporary scene, Bruce Cockburn is a great example of a popular musician who has added to the art while influencing a new generation of musicians and at the same time expressing his faith and its application to modern events and politics.

There are so many Christians we could choose from, but this is a good start. As you explore these names you will discover many more.

None of these people are perfect. That quality is reserved for God. I am not looking for perfect people, but flawed people that God did good things through. A good thing too. Since I am not perfect, it gives me hope that God can work through people like me.

I would highly recommend two books by Rodney Stark. The Victory of Reason and The Rise of Christianity give many examples of Christian virtue. The modern, cultural explanation for the growth of Christianity is that it came through military violence. That was not the case and these two books give an accurate picture of the spread of Christianity.