Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

is professed by 0.5% of the population of the state of

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

in India.

History

The French or Catalan Dominican missionary

Jordanus Jordanus (-), distinguished as JordanofSeverac ( la, Iordanus de Severaco; oc, Jordan de Severac; french: Jourdain de Séverac; it, Giordano di Séverac) or JordanofCatalonia ( la, Jordanus Catalanus; ca, Jordà de Catalunya), was a Catala ...

Catalani was the first European to start conversion in Gujarat region. He arrived in

Surat Surat is a city in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The word Surat literally means ''face'' in Gujarati and Hindi. Located on the banks of the river Tapti near its confluence with the Arabian Sea, it used to be a large seaport. It is now ...

in 1320.The Portuguese controlled the area of

Daman and Diu Daman and Diu (; ) was a former union territory in northwestern India. With an area of , it was the smallest administrative subdivision of India on the mainland. The territory comprised two districts, Damaon and Dio island, geographically sep ...

on Gujarat coast for many centuries and brought catholicism with them. IThe

Charter Act of 1813 The East India Company Act 1813 (53 Geo 3 c 155), also known as the Charter Act 1813, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that renewed the charter issued to the British East India Company, and continued the Company's rule in Ind ...

passed by the

British parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative supremacy ...

curtailed the power of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

and allowed entry of christian missionaries to areas controlled by the company. Notable early Missionaries included John Taylor M. D. (d. 1821), Joseph Taylor (d. 1852), his son J. V. S. Taylor (d. 1881) the translator of the Gujarati Bible "Old Version" (1861, rev. 1899), and his grandson George Pritchard Taylor (b. 1854) author of a Gujarati grammar. Missionaries established schools in the first half of the 20th century. Gujarati Christian and Khristie Bandhu are

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub ...

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

monthlies published from Ahmedabad. Khristie Bandhu being older publication than Gujarati Christian. '' Doot'' is

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

monthly published from Anand,

since January 1911.

Denominations

Roman Catholicism

The Catholic church in the state is governed from three ecclesiastical districts. These are the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Ahmedabad The Roman Catholic Diocese of Ahmedabad ( la, Ahmedabaden(sis)) is a Latin rite suffragan diocese in the Gujarati Ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Gandhinagar, Gandhinagar, yet depends on the Roman ...

, the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Gandhinagar The Archdiocese of Gandhinagar ( la, Gandhinagaren(sis)) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church located in the city of Gandhinagar in India. The archdiocese is a metropolis (religious jurisdiction) ...

, the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Baroda The Roman Catholic Diocese of Baroda ( la, Baroden(sis)) is a diocese located in the city of Baroda in the Ecclesiastical province of Gandhinagar in India. History * September 29, 1966: Established as the Diocese of Baroda from the Metropolit ...

, and the Syro-Malabar Catholic Diocese of Rajkot

Protestant churches

The Protestant

Church of North India The Church of North India (CNI) is the dominant united Protestant church in northern India. It was established on 29 November 1970 by bringing together the Protestant churches working in northern India. It is a province of the worldwide Anglica ...

has jurisdiction over

Diocese of Gujarat The Church of North India (CNI) is the dominant united Protestant church in northern India. It was established on 29 November 1970 by bringing together the Protestant churches working in northern India. It is a province of the worldwide Anglica ...

. The

Methodist Church in India Methodist Church in India is a Protestant Christian denomination of India. The Methodist Church in India's roots originate in American Methodist missionary activity in India, as opposed to the British and Australian conferences of the Methodi ...

, one of the largest Protestant Christian denominations, also has a Diocese of Gujarat.

The Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestant church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. The organisation reports a worldwide membership of over 1.7million, comprising soldiers, officers and adherents col ...

and

The Christian and Missionary Alliance Church ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

churches too can be found in the state.

Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church

The Malakara Syrian Church in the state is governed by Orthodox Diocese of Ahmedabad.

Other denominations

Apart from this many free or independent churches are prominent in the state including many designated as Bible Churches. Although small in number they are very strong in their ideas adhering to

The Holy Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a v ...

Gandhinagar Gandhinagar (, ) is the capital of the state of Gujarat in India. Gandhinagar is located approximately 23 km north of Ahmedabad, on the west central point of the Industrial corridor between Delhi, the political capital of India, and Mu ...

, the capital city of the state of

, is a home to Green City Bible Church, stationed on the prominent Sarkhej - Gandhinagar Highway. The state has anti-conversion legislation.

References

{{Christianity in India by region