Michael A. G. Haykin, Professor of Church History and Biblical Spirituality at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, has written a list of 18 Key Events of Church History (Although the title of the blog post lists 18 key events, the actual list contains 19.)

1. Conversion of Paul
2. Irenaeus defence of the Faith against Gnosticism (‎preserves OT as canonical)
3. Constantine and the edict of Milan (313)
4. Augustine’s baptism in 387 and his Confessions (399)
5. Patrick’s mission to Ireland 430-460 and the creation of the Celtic Church
6. Rise of Islam
7. Cyril and Methodius’ mission to the Slavic countries
8. 1054 schism between Rome and Orthodoxy
9. Luther and his 95 Theses (1517)
10. William Tyndale and his New Testament (1526)
11. Oliver Cromwell and the Puritan victory in the English Civil Wars (1640s and the 1650s)
12. ‎Act of Toleration (1689)
13. Great Awakening (1740s-1750s)
14. The Formation of the Baptist Missionary Society (1792)
15. Intellectual work of Marx, Freud, Nietzsche
16. World War I
17. The Fundamentalist- Modernist controversy (1920s-1930s)
18. The decision of Martyn Lloyd-Jones to go to Westminster Chapel (1938)
19. The Billy Graham 1959 NY Crusade.

A few questions to ponder:

• How much do you know of each of these events?
• What do you know of the historical, cultural, spiritual and political climate surrounding these key events?
• What is the longer term impact of these events?
• What would you include and why?