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Christianity in Sri Lanka |
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This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (April 2007) |
Christianity is a minority religion in Sri Lanka. Roman Catholicism was introduced by the Portuguese in 1505. There were conversions by Dutch persons in the 17th century, which resulted in a percentage of church members in excess of 10%. This figure decreased. The Christian population of Sri Lanka includes members of both the Sinhalese and Tamil ethnic groups.
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About 7% of the population (1,400,000 persons) are Roman Catholic. There is a Roman Catholic archbishop and 10 other Roman Catholic bishops. The other dioceses are:
About 160,000 persons in Sri Lanka (0,8%) are Protestants. There are about 2000 people (1998) affiliated with congregations belonging to the Baptist World Alliance. The Lanka Lutheran Church has about 1,200 members.
There has been a significant growth of evangelical Christianity since 1980. The main protestant churches in Sri Lanka are Anglican, Methodist, Baptist and Salvation Army. The Anglican church has a strong effect on people in some areas. Methodist missionaries established 187 school of which only 2 remains (Wesley College and Methodist College) because all the other schools were taken over by the government. Methodism has over 40,000 followers in Sri Lanka with 45 circuits, 200 churches and 120 pastors. Moratuwa Area and Kutunayake Negombo Areas are the regions where many Methodists live. In 2005 and 2006 the Methodist Church of Sri Lanka had a very difficult time during a period of anti-Christian violence.
St. Andrew's Church in Colombo is a congregation of the Church of Scotland. For administrative purposes it is part of the Church of Scotland's Presbytery of Europe.
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