All Kinds of Christians 1

It was once claimed that this would be the case by the turn of the Millennium, yet rates of uptake of Christian faith continue to rise in what is nominally a one-party atheist state.

It may ill behove us, in this context, to criticise (let alone gloat over) the lapses of fallible people who have ~ no doubt ~ set out in good faith to 'spread God's Word' ... but can seem to be a strangely persistent correlation between televangelism and corruption/hypocrisy; if you have the stomach for it, paste any of our 'wrong' Answers here (i.e. nos. 1, 3 or 4) into a browser and see what comes up.
Billy Graham, on the other hand, was a pioneer in this general kind of ministry, and at time of writing (early summer 2014) is still alive, though in fragile health, within 50 months of reaching his personal century. His direct and indirect influence on people in America and further afield, from Presidents and Martin Luther King to many hundreds of thousands of less conspicuous but genuine altar-call converts, might perhaps appropriately be described as 'probably incalculable, this side of the pearly gates'.

The monks of Benediktbeuern were responsible for this collection of satirical, drinking, gambling and love poems, way back in the 11th and 12th centuries. The manuscript was discovered at the monastery in the very early 19th century, and two dozen of its pieces, famously including 'O Fortuna' at the start and finish, were set for choir, soloists and large orchestra by Carl Orff during the mid-1930s (the 'Weimar Germany' period). Orff was himself originally a percussionist, so the vocal writing is almost unremittingly 'puls-y', without any hint of counterpoint such as choirs routinely expect in conventional oratorio ~ but this isn't by any means a conventional oratorio: it's punchy and raunchy and altogether great fun in its celebration of 'life in all its fulness'!

There have allegedly been occasional challenges and breaches of this rule (see Wikipedia), but the original vow dates back almost a thousand years ~ half the Christian era, near-as ~ to 1046.

The Brethren have been in existence since the early 19th century, with their first roots in fact in Dublin.

By all accounts these were 'a rum lot', with a charismatic founder going into spiritual ecstasies in front of his congregation, and his successor declaring himself (in 1902) to be Jesus Christ reincarnate before retreating to the south coast to found a commune. Many of the followers who surrendered their possessions were apparently unmarried women from the upper echelons of society and there was more than a whiff of scandal. The sect is now extinct and its London church (complete with pets' gravestones, behind the Stamford Hill bus depot at Clapton) is run by another denomination. This story from an earlier generation, in the wake of the Victorian deregulation of nonconformist Christian activity, bears interesting contrast with the 'televangelists' as in our earlier question.

This Church grew from the pre-Reformation teachings of Jan Hus, and was indeed the first Protestant church as such.

St Mark (the youngest original evangelist) is reported to have headed into Egypt after the 'great commission' on the original Whit Sunday, and had established this branch of the church within about 10 years of the founding events of the Christian faith.

Archbishop Tutu might very fairly be called one of the most remarkable men to have lived in our times: there is far more to him than could reasonably be condensed into one of our present Questions, and you are most strongly recommended to research for yourself his range of spiritually-driven initiatives on AIDS, racial and gender equality, forgiveness, church reform and much else besides.
At time of writing (early summer 2014) it has not been many months since the world lost Nelson Mandela; Tutu meanwhile is in declining health and we might all fairly hope that as and when he 'passes to glory' (as deservedly he should and will), his memory too will be celebrated and honoured.

Not a bad prayer, actually, is it, in its particular way? (Similarly the talk about 'teapot Christians and coffee-pot Christians'; the latter, presumably, having longer and less smiley faces)