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Protestants in Thailand constitute about 0.77% of the population of Thailand. [1] Protestant work among the Thai people was begun by Ann Judson in Burma, who evangelized Thai war captives who were relocated to Burma. Protestantism was introduced to the country of Thailand in 1828 through the work of Karl Gutzlaff and Jacob Tomlin, the first two resident Protestant missionaries in Thailand.
There are five Christian groups legally recognized by the Thai government, including the following Protestant groups: Church of Christ in Thailand, the Evangelical Fellowship of Thailand, and the Thailand Baptist Convention.
The Church of Christ in Thailand (CCT) is perhaps the largest Protestant denomination in Thailand and is the oldest denomination, being founded in 1934 by a merger of American Presbyterian and American Baptist churches. Since that time, several other Protestant groups have joined the CCT, including Lutherans from the German Marburger Mission and churches started by the Disciples of Christ. The denomination consists of Thai, Chinese, Karen, Lahu, and English-speaking congregations. It is a member of the World Council of Churches and has about 130,000 members.
The Evangelical Fellowship of Thailand (EFT) is an evangelical umbrella organization that includes many smaller denominations, churches, missionary organizations, and parachurch ministries. It is not a denomination, but a collection of different groups for the purposes of reporting to the government and inter-denominational co-operation.
The Thailand Baptist Convention is a small denomination of Baptist churches that was started by American missionaries from the Southern Baptist Convention.
There are also many independent churches and groups in Thailand, including many Pentecostal and charismatic groups. The most notable Pentecostal groups are Hope of Bangkok church, Jai Saman church, and the Rom Klao association of churches.
Among the other Protestant groups represented in Thailand are Lutherans, [2] Baptists, [3] Christian and Missionary Alliance, Adventists, [4] Methodists, [5] Pentecostals and charismatics, [6] and Anglicans. [7] Anglican Churches in Thailand belong to the Anglican Church in Thailand, a deanery of the Diocese of Singapore of the Church of the Province of South East Asia. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also has a presence in the country.
There are many evangelical parachurch Christian ministries operating throughout the country, with some being newly founded small churches. Foreign missionaries and residents are establishing churches and prayer groups throughout Thailand. One of the largest is Youth with a Mission, which has over 200 full-time foreign staff and over 100 Thai staff, ministering in 20 locations. Another evangelistic missionary organization, OMF International, has an outreach to place Christian teachers in the Kingdom's schools. [8] In the large cities like Bangkok, Pattaya, and Chiang Mai, numerous ministries are operating in hotel conference rooms, storefronts, and other rented facilities as an outreach to the local residents.
Bangkok Adventist Mission Hospital and Bangkok Christian Hospital are Protestant-affiliated hospitals in Bangkok.
United Bible Society began to work in Thailand in 1828. In 1966, Thailand Bible Society was officially established, though its organised work began in 1828. Part of the Bible in Thai was first published in 1834. The New Testament in Thai was printed for the first time in 1843. The first full collection of Bible texts in Thai came out in 1883. [9] In 2005, Thailand Bible Society distributed 43,740 copies of the Bible and 9,629 copies of New Testament in the Thai language.
Gideons International's "Scripture Blitz" was held in Thailand in November 2005, where 227,295 Bibles were placed by a team of 30 men from around the world. [10]
Evangelicalism, also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that emphasises the centrality of being "born again", in which an individual experiences personal conversion; the authority of the Bible as God's revelation to humanity; and spreading the Christian message. The word evangelical comes from the Greek (euangelion) word for "good news".
Parachurch organizations are Christian faith-based organizations that work outside and across denominations to engage in social welfare and evangelism. Parachurch organizations seek to come alongside the church and specialize in things that individual churches may not be able to specialize in by themselves. They often cross denominational and national boundaries providing specialized services and training.
P'ent'ay is an originally Amharic–Tigrinya language term for Pentecostal Christians. Today, the term refers to all Evangelical Protestant denominations and organisations in Ethiopian and Eritrean societies. Alternative terms include Ethiopian–Eritrean Evangelicalism or the Ethiopian–Eritrean Evangelical Church. Sometimes the denominations and organizations are known as Wenigēlawī.
Renewal is the collective term for Charismatic, Pentecostal and Neo-charismatic churches.
Protestants in Myanmar make up 5% of that nation's population in 2023. Most Christians are from the minority ethnic groups such as Karen, Lisu, Kachin, Chin, and Lahu. An estimated 0.1% of the Bamar population is Christian.
Protestant denominations arrived in the Philippines in 1898, after the United States took control of the Philippines from Spain, first with United States Army chaplains and then within months civilian missionaries.
The Church of Christ in Thailand (C.C.T.) is a Protestant Christian association. It is the largest Protestant denomination in Thailand and is considered to be the largest by group of Protestant members in Thailand.
Protestantism in Brazil began in the 19th century and grew in the 20th century. The 2010 Census reported that 22.2% of the Brazilian population was Protestant, while in 2020 the percentage was estimated to have risen to 31% of the population, over 65 million individuals, making it the second largest Protestant population in the Western world.
Protestants in India are a minority and a sub-section of Christians in India and also to a certain extent the Christians in Pakistan before the Partition of India, that adhere to some or all of the doctrines of Protestantism. Protestants in India are a small minority in a predominantly Hindu majority country, but form majorities in the north-eastern states of Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland and significant minorities in Konkan division, Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, with various communities in east coast and northern states. Protestants today trace their heritage back to the Protestant reformation of the 16th century. There are an estimated 20 million Protestants and 16 million Pentecostals in India.
There are around 500,000 to 1,000,000 Protestants in Egypt, with 300,000 to 600,000 being members of the Evangelical Church of Egypt, Pentecostals number 300,000 to 350,000, and various other Protestants scattered in smaller denominations.
Christianity was first introduced to Thailand by European missionaries. In 2021, it represented 1.2% of the national population, which is predominantly Buddhist. Christians are numerically and organizationally concentrated more heavily in the north, where they make up an estimated 16% of some lowland districts and up to very high percents in tribal districts.
Protestants in Ukraine number about 600,000 to 700,000 (2007), about 2% of the total population. Nearly all traditional Protestant denominations are represented in the country. According to Christianity Today magazine, Ukraine has become not just the "Bible Belt" of Eastern Europe, but a "hub of evangelical church life, education, and missions". At present, the country is a key supplier of missionaries and a center of evangelical training and press printing for all the countries of the former Soviet Union, where the legal environment is not so favourable.
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began in the 16th century with the goal of reforming the Catholic Church from perceived errors, abuses, and discrepancies.
The Evangelical Fellowship of Thailand is a national evangelical alliance, and a member of the World Evangelical Alliance. It is a group of over 3,000 evangelical churches, and various parachurch organizations, and foundations, and is one of five Christian groups legally recognized by the Thai government. The headquarters is in Bangkok, Thailand.
Boon Mark Gittisarn was a 20th-century Thai Protestant pastor and preacher who was influential in introducing Pentecostalism to Thailand.
