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Protestants in India are a minority and a sub-section ofChristians in India and also to a certain extent theChristians in Pakistan before thePartition of India, that adhere to some or all of the doctrines ofProtestantism. Protestants in India are a small minority in a predominantlyHindu majority country, but form majorities in the north-eastern states ofMeghalaya,Mizoram andNagaland. They are also significant minorities inPunjab region,Konkan region,Bengal,Kerala andTamil Nadu, with various communities in east coast and northern states. Protestants can trace their origins back to theProtestant Revolution of the 16th century. There are an estimated 20 million Protestants and 16 million Pentecostals in India.[1]
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As theAnglican Church was theestablished church of England, "it had an impact on India with the arrival of the British".[3] Citing theGreat Commission,Joseph White, aLaudian Professor of Arabic at the University of Oxford, "preached before the university in 1784 on the duty of promoting the universal and progressive message of Christianity 'among our Mahometan and Gentoo Subjects in India'."[4] In 1889, thePrime Minister of Great Britain,Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury expressed similar sentiments, stating that "It is not only our duty but is in our interest to promote the diffusion of Christianity as far as possible throughout the length and breadth of India."[5]
The growth of theBritish Indian Army led to the arrival of manyAnglican chaplains in India.[6] Following the arrival of the Church of England'sChurch Mission Society in 1814, theDiocese of Calcutta of theChurch of India, Burma and Ceylon (CIBC) was erected, with itsSt. Paul's Cathedral being built in 1847.[3] By 1930, the Church of India, Burma and Ceylon had fourteendioceses across the Indian Empire.[7]
Missionaries from otherChristian denominations came to British India as well;Lutheran missionaries, for example, arrived in Calcutta in 1836 and by "the year 1880 there were over 31,200 Lutheran Christians spread out in 1,052 villages".[5]Methodists began arriving in India in 1783 and establishedmissions with a focus on "education, health ministry, and evangelism".[8][9] In the 1790s, Christians from theLondon Missionary Society andBaptist Missionary Society, began doing missionary work in the Indian Empire.[10] InNeyoor, the London Missionary Society Hospital "pioneered improvements in the public health system for the treatment of diseases even before organized attempts were made by the colonial Madras Presidency, reducing the death rate substantially".[11]
After 1857, the establishment of schools and hospitals by British Christian missionaries became the "a pivotal feature of missionary work and the principal vehicles for conversion".[12][9]Christ Church College (1866) andSt. Stephen's College (1881) are two examples of prominent church-affiliated educational institutions founded during the colonial period India.[13] Within educational institutions established during the British Raj in India, Christian texts, especially theBible, were a part of the curricula.[12] During the colonial era in India, Christian missionaries developed writing systems for Indian languages that previously did not have one.[14][15] Christian missionaries in India also worked to increase literacy and also engaged in social activism, such as fighting against prostitution, championing the right of widowed women to remarry, and trying to stop early marriages for women.[16] Among British women,zenana missions became a popular method to winconverts to Christianity.[12]
Incolonial India, theAll India Conference of Indian Christians (AICIC) played an important role in theIndian independence movement, advocating forswaraj andopposing the partition of India.[17] The AICIC also was opposed to separate electorates for Christians, believing that the faithful "should participate as common citizens in one common, national political system".[17][18] The All India Conference of Indian Christians and theAll India Catholic Union formed a working committee with M. Rahnasamy ofAndhra University serving as president and B.L. Rallia Ram ofLahore serving as General Secretary; in its meeting on 16 April 1947 and 17 April 1947, the joint committee prepared a 13-point memorandum that was sent to theConstituent Assembly of India, which asked forreligious freedom for both organisations and individuals; this came to be reflected in theConstitution of India.[17][18]
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Many Protestant denominations are represented in India, the result of missionary activities throughout the country especially underBritish rule in India. The largest Protestant denomination in the country is theChurch of South India, since 1947 a union ofPresbyterian,Reformed,Congregational,Methodist, andAnglicancongregations with approximately 4 million members as of 2014. The broadly similarChurch of North India had 1 million members. (Both churches are in full communion with theAnglican Communion.) There were about 1.3 million Lutherans, 473,000 Methodists, and 425,000 Baptists as of 1995.
Pentecostalism, one of the largest Protestant denominations worldwide, is also a rapidly growing denomination in India. It is spreading greatly innorthern India and the southwestern areas, such asKerala. The largest indigenous Pentecostal denominations in India areThe Pentecostal Mission (TPM) and theIndia Pentecostal Church of God (IPC).
As for the smaller denominations, another prominent group is the Brethren. They includePlymouth Brethren,Indian Brethren,Kerala Brethren etc. TheConference of the Mennonite Brethren Churches in India has more than 100,000 members.
One of the oldest denominations meanwhile is theNorthern Evangelical Lutheran Church.
Protestantmissionaries began to work throughoutIndia, leading to the growth of different Christian communities. In 1793,William Carey, an English Baptist Minister, came to India as a missionary. He worked inSerampore,Calcutta and other cities founding churches. On the educational front, in addition to starting theSerampore College, he also translated the Bible intoBengali andSanskrit, continuing with these labours until his death in 1834.Anthony Norris Groves,Plymouth Brethren missionary came to India in 1833. He worked in theGodavari delta area of thenMadras Presidency, until his death in 1852.
Missionaries such asAmy Carmichael,Ida S. Scudder andJoyce M. Woollard continued the work in the 20th century.
According to the 2015 India Demographic and Health Survey, 2.6% of the population is Christian.[19] Other reports stated that Catholics make up 1.71% of the population, suggesting that less than 0.9% of the country has a Protestant background.[20]
A report in 2021 noted that many Indian Christians share Hindu beliefs, in particular in karma (54%), and reincarnation (29%);[21] it also noted that three-quarters of Indian Christians come from a lower-caste background.
Source of the list: World Christian Encyclopedia.
The growth of the army in India also led to many army chaplains. After the change in the Charter in 1813, Anglican missionaries began to work across North India. The missionaries translated the Book of Common Prayer into various Indian languages. The first Anglican diocese was Calcutta in 1813, and bishops from India were at the first Lambeth conference. In 1930 the Church of India, Burma and Ceylon became an independent Province and created its own Book of Common Prayer, which was translated into several languages.
The three dioceses thus formed have been repeatedly subdivided, until in 1930 there were fourteen dioceses, the dates of their creation being as follows : Calcutta 1814; Madras 1835; Bombay 1837; Colombo 1845; Lahore 1877; Rangoon 1877; Travancore 1879; Chota Nagpur 1890; Lucknow 1893; Tinnevelly 1896; Nagpur 1903; Dornakal 1912; Assam 1915; Nasik 1929.
