Figure 1.--Pentacostals in the 20th century added to the religious diversity of Indian Christians. Here we see Protestant worship at Fellowship Ashram Church of India, a Pentecostal Church. It is located in Valsad, a town in the Indian State of Gujarat. Notice how worshipers are not in family groups, but the men and women are separate-- but equal on two sides. Compare this to Muslim devotions where the women are commonly relegated to the back or sometimes even in a make-shift separate building.

Protestant missionaries began to arrive in India as the British presence grew (early-18th century). This was two centuries after the Catholics. The first Protestabt missionaries came initially Britain and then America. They included Baptists, Anglicans (which might be considered separate from the Protestants), Scottish Presbyterians, Lutherans, American Presbyterians and American Methodists. Their approach was very different than modern missionaries. They looked on Indians as inferior people and wanted little to do with great masses of Indian people. More Protesrtant missionaries arrived, adding to the diversity of Protestant churches (19th century). This reflects the importance of the British Raj and resulting missioanry activity in the 19th century. One aspect of the Raj was that there was essentially a free market in religion. Missionaries could compete for adherents without governmentinterference. American missiionary activity became increasingly important. So many different denominations supported missinary activity in India, it is difficult to write a generalized history of Pritestantism in India. Although by the time the Protestant missionaries reached India, the European religious wars were past, and most came after the British had established their dominance ovr the French. Thus competition among the various denominations and with the Catholics was for the most part a battke of theology and ideas. The denominational complexity caused a variety of problems for the many small missions. As a result, the various denominations began to consulting on common problems. As a result, denominations with similar theology began to work together and form alliances. Pentacostal missionaries began to arrive in the 20th century. Like minded denominations began to persue joint ventures in the fields of education and charity. The result was the United Theological Colleges and united secular colleges and charitable institutions. Over time, several denominations joined to form a larger more manageable churches. The total of Protestants totals about the same mumber as Catholics, although even after several unions, they are still divided into several different denominations. The most important are the Church of South India, Baptist, Church of North India, Lutheran, Indian Brethern, and Seventh-Day Adventist.

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing national pages:
[Return to the Main countries page]
[Australia] [Belgium] [China] [England] [France] [Germany] [India] [Indonesia] [Ireland] [Italy] [Japan] [Korea]
[Malaysia] [Mexico] [The Netherlands] [Portugal] [Scotland] [Spain] [United States]

Created: 4:40 AM 12/24/2010
Last updated: 4:40 AM 12/24/2010