Christianity around the world

Christianity in India

Christianity in India is very old. A strong and ancient tradition holds that the apostle Thomas reached the Malabar coast of southern India in the first century, and the Saint Thomas Christians (Nasrani) of Kerala have kept an Eastern Christian faith for many centuries. Later came Roman Catholicism through the Portuguese at Goa in the sixteenth century, and Protestant missions from the eighteenth. Today Christians are a significant minority across India, strongest in the south and northeast.

How Christianity came to India

According to a tradition treasured for many centuries, the apostle Thomas, the same Thomas who touched the risen Christ and confessed him, sailed to the Malabar coast of Kerala around AD 52 and planted churches there. Historians debate how much can be established with certainty, but the Saint Thomas Christians of Kerala have carried an Eastern Christian faith, in the Syriac tradition, from deep antiquity, and their existence long predates any European contact.

A second layer arrived with the Portuguese, when Vasco da Gama reached India in 1498 and Goa became a center of Roman Catholic mission. Francis Xavier, the great Jesuit missionary, worked along the southern coasts in the 1540s. A third layer came with Protestant missions, beginning with the Danish-Halle mission of Ziegenbalg at Tranquebar in 1706 and later the Baptist William Carey at Serampore, who gave much of his life to translating the Bible into Indian languages.

The church here today

Indian Christianity is remarkably layered. The Saint Thomas Christians remain, now divided among several churches (Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara Catholics, Orthodox, Mar Thoma, and others). There are Latin-rite Catholics, and large Protestant bodies such as the Church of South India and the Church of North India. Christians are especially numerous in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Goa, and the northeastern states such as Nagaland, Mizoram, and Meghalaya, where they form a majority. Across India as a whole they are a substantial minority within a Hindu-majority nation.

If you are seeking here

If you are living in India and quietly wondering about Jesus, you are not alone, and you are welcome. Faith is not a nationality or a family tradition you are locked into or out of; it begins wherever one person turns to Christ and asks. You can start today by reading a Gospel, by praying honestly in your own words, and by finding a community that follows Jesus near you.

Frequently asked questions

Did the apostle Thomas bring Christianity to India?

A strong and ancient tradition holds that Thomas reached the Malabar coast of Kerala around AD 52. Historians debate the details, but the Saint Thomas Christians of Kerala have kept an Eastern Christian faith from deep antiquity.

Who are the Saint Thomas Christians?

They are the ancient Christian community of Kerala, also called Nasrani, who trace their faith to the apostle Thomas and have worshipped in the Syriac tradition for many centuries, long before Europeans arrived.

Where are most Christians in India?

Christians are most numerous in the southern states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, in Goa, and in the northeastern states such as Nagaland, Mizoram, and Meghalaya, where they form a majority.