Historical Christian Leaders

🇦🇷Argentina

• Christian Leader
• Catholic

Role:

Pope (2013–2025)

Organization:

Roman Catholic Church

🇨🇩DR Congo

• Christian Leader
• Prophet
• African Initiated Churches

Role:

Founder figure of the Kimbanguist Church

Organization:

Kimbanguist Church

🇩🇪Germany

• Christian Leader
• Pastor
• Lutheran

Role:

Pastor and theologian

🇩🇪Germany

• Christian Leader
• Reformer
• Lutheran

Role:

Protestant Reformer

🇩🇪Germany

• Christian Leader
• Evangelist
• Pentecostal

Role:

Founder, Christ for all Nations

🇬🇭Ghana

• Christian Leader
• Cardinal
• Catholic

Role:

Cardinal; Bishop of Wa (2016–2022)

Organization:

Roman Catholic Church

Created a cardinal in August 2022, three months before his death

🇬🇭Ghana

• Christian Leader
• Professor
• Presbyterian / Reformed
• Evangelical

Role:

Founding Rector, Akrofi-Christaller Institute; theologian

Leading voice of African Christian theology

🇬🇭Ghana

• Christian Leader
• Pastor
• Pentecostal

Role:

Founder, The Church of Pentecost

Organization:

The Church of Pentecost

Missionary founder of The Church of Pentecost

🇮🇳India

• Christian Leader
• Saint Teresa of Calcutta
• Catholic

Role:

Founder, Missionaries of Charity

Organization:

Missionaries of Charity

🇳🇬Nigeria

• Christian Leader
• Apostle (as publicly used)
• African Initiated Churches
• Pentecostal

Role:

Evangelist; spiritual leader of Christ Apostolic Church

Organization:

Christ Apostolic Church

Revivalist regarded by CAC as its spiritual father

🇳🇬Nigeria

• Christian Leader
• Archbishop
• Pentecostal

Role:

Founder, Church of God Mission International

Organization:

Church of God Mission International

Pioneer of Nigerian Pentecostalism; founded Benson Idahosa University's forerunner

🇳🇬Nigeria

• Christian Leader
• Bishop
• Anglican / Episcopal

Role:

First African Anglican bishop; Bible translator

Consecrated the first African Anglican bishop in 1864

🇳🇬Nigeria

• Christian Leader
• Reverend
• Pentecostal

Role:

Founder and first General Overseer, Redeemed Christian Church of God

Organization:

Redeemed Christian Church of God

Founded the Redeemed Christian Church of God in 1952

🇳🇬Nigeria

• Christian Leader
• Pastor
• Pentecostal

Role:

Co-founder and Senior Pastor, The Fountain of Life Church

Organization:

The Fountain of Life Church

Co-founder of The Fountain of Life Church, Lagos

🇳🇬Nigeria

• Christian Leader
• Founder
• African Initiated Churches

Role:

Founder, Eternal Sacred Order of the Cherubim and Seraphim

Organization:

Cherubim and Seraphim Church

Founded the Cherubim and Seraphim movement in 1925

🇵🇱Poland

• Christian Leader
• Catholic

Role:

Pope (1978–2005)

Organization:

Roman Catholic Church

🇿🇦South Africa

• Christian Leader
• Archbishop
• Anglican / Episcopal

Role:

Archbishop of Cape Town

🇰🇷South Korea

• Christian Leader
• Pastor
• Pentecostal

Role:

Co-founder, Yoido Full Gospel Church

Organization:

Yoido Full Gospel Church

🇨🇭Switzerland

• Christian Leader
• Reformer
• Presbyterian / Reformed

Role:

Protestant Reformer in Geneva

🇬🇧United Kingdom

• Christian Leader
• Author
• Anglican / Episcopal

Role:

Author, scholar and lay theologian

Author of Mere Christianity and The Chronicles of Narnia

🇬🇧United Kingdom

• Christian Leader
• Pastor
• Baptist

Role:

Pastor, Metropolitan Tabernacle

Organization:

Metropolitan Tabernacle

Known as the "Prince of Preachers"

🇬🇧United Kingdom

• Christian Leader
• Reverend
• Methodist / Wesleyan
• Anglican / Episcopal

Role:

Hymnwriter and leader of the Methodist movement

Organization:

Methodist Church in Britain

Wrote more than 6,500 hymns, including Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

🇬🇧United Kingdom

• Christian Leader
• Missionary
• Evangelical

Role:

Founder, China Inland Mission (now OMF International)

Founded the China Inland Mission in 1865

🇬🇧United Kingdom

• Christian Leader
• Reverend
• Anglican / Episcopal
• Evangelical

Role:

Anglican cleric, hymnwriter and abolitionist

Wrote the hymn Amazing Grace

🇬🇧United Kingdom

• Christian Leader
• Reverend
• Anglican / Episcopal
• Evangelical

Role:

Rector, All Souls Langham Place; Founder, Langham Partnership

Organization:

All Souls, Langham Place

A principal author of the 1974 Lausanne Covenant

🇬🇧United Kingdom

• Christian Leader
• Reverend
• Methodist / Wesleyan
• Anglican / Episcopal

Role:

Founder of the Methodist movement

Organization:

Methodist Church in Britain

Principal leader of the Methodist revival

🇬🇧United Kingdom

• Christian Leader
• Dr
• Evangelical
• Presbyterian / Reformed

Role:

Minister, Westminster Chapel

Organization:

Westminster Chapel

Physician who became minister of Westminster Chapel for almost 30 years

🇬🇧United Kingdom

• Christian Leader
• Cardinal
• Catholic

Role:

Theologian and cardinal; canonised 2019

Organization:

Roman Catholic Church

Canonised in 2019 and declared a Doctor of the Church in 2025

🇬🇧United Kingdom

• Christian Leader
• General
• Methodist / Wesleyan

Role:

Co-founder and first General of The Salvation Army

Organization:

The Salvation Army UK and Ireland Territory

Founded The Salvation Army with his wife Catherine in 1865

🇬🇧United Kingdom

• Christian Leader
• MP
• Anglican / Episcopal
• Evangelical

Role:

Evangelical politician and abolitionist

Led the parliamentary campaign that abolished the British slave trade in 1807

🇺🇸United States

• Christian Leader
• Evangelist
• Pentecostal

Role:

Founder, The Foursquare Church; built Angelus Temple

Organization:

The Foursquare Church

Founded the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel

🇺🇸United States

• Christian Leader
• Archbishop
• Catholic

Role:

Archbishop and broadcaster (Life Is Worth Living)

Organization:

Roman Catholic Church

Emmy-winning host of Life Is Worth Living

🇺🇸United States

• Christian Leader
• Evangelist
• Baptist
• Evangelical

Role:

Founder, Billy Graham Evangelistic Association

Organization:

Billy Graham Evangelistic Association

Preached to live audiences around the world in decades of crusades

🇺🇸United States

• Christian Leader
• Bishop
• Church of God
• Pentecostal

Role:

Founder, Church of God in Christ

Organization:

Church of God in Christ

🇺🇸United States

• Christian Leader
• Dr.
• Baptist

Role:

Founder, In Touch Ministries; Senior Pastor, First Baptist Atlanta (50 years)

Organization:

In Touch Ministries

Former SBC president and founder of In Touch Ministries

🇺🇸United States

• Christian Leader
• Author
• Seventh-day Adventist

Role:

Co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church

Organization:

Seventh-day Adventist Church

🇺🇸United States

• Christian Leader
• Pastor
• Evangelical

Role:

Pastor, Grace Community Church (1969–2025); Founder, Grace to You

Organization:

Grace Community Church

Pastor of Grace Community Church for more than 55 years

🇺🇸United States

• Christian Leader
• Reverend
• Baptist

Role:

Baptist minister and civil rights leader

Nobel Peace Prize laureate (1964)

🇺🇸United States

• Christian Leader
• Theologian
• Presbyterian / Reformed

Role:

Founder, Ligonier Ministries

Organization:

Ligonier Ministries

🇺🇸United States

• Christian Leader
• Pastor
• Presbyterian / Reformed
• Evangelical

Role:

Founding Pastor, Redeemer Presbyterian Church

Organization:

Redeemer Presbyterian Church

Author of The Reason for God

🇺🇸United States

• Christian Leader
• Pastor
• Pentecostal

Role:

Leader of the Azusa Street Revival