The Church of Christ in Thailand (C.C.T.) (

Thai Thai or THAI may refer to: * Of or from Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia ** Thai people, the dominant ethnic group of Thailand ** Thai language, a Tai-Kadai language spoken mainly in and around Thailand *** Thai script *** Thai (Unicode block ...

: สภาคริสตจักรในประเทศไทย) is a

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 ...

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

association. It is the largest Protestant denomination in Thailand and is considered to be the largest by group of Protestant members in

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

History

It was founded in 1934 as the Church in Siam with the intent of forming a single ecumenical denomination to include all Protestant churches in Thailand. Other than a small number of

American Baptist American Baptist may refer to: * American Baptist Churches USA (ABCUSA), formed (as the Northern Baptist Convention) in 1907 * American Baptist Association, formed 1924 * American Baptist College, Nashville, Tennessee, formed 1924 by the National B ...

and British

Churches of Christ The Churches of Christ is a loose association of autonomous Christian congregations based on the ''sola scriptura'' doctrine. Their practices are based on Bible texts and draw on the early Christian church as described in the New Testament. T ...

congregations, most of the original member churches were originally

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

congregations, many of which were started by missionaries from the

American Presbyterian Mission Presbyterian Mission Agency is the ministry and mission agency of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Founded as the Western Foreign Missionary Society by the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America in 1837, it was involved in sending w ...

Board. The merger also included

Lutherans Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

from the German Marburger Mission. The C.C.T. originally had seven districts, six geographical and one ethnic

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

. Except for a brief period during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

missionary influence remained predominant in the C.C.T. until the late 1970s.

Mission

The Church of Christ in Thailand (CCT) is governed by the “Constitution of Church of Christ in Thailand (1998)” which is the supreme governing document of the denomination. The governing structure and management is divided into three levels which are the General Assembly of the Church of Christ in Thailand, regional churches, and local churches. At present, there are more than 1000 churches, church plants and preaching points, and approximately 160,000 members (2011 statistics). The various agencies which support the mission of CCT are classified into five parts. : 1. Evangelization and Church Development – this agency's primary responsibility is to support regional and local churches and institutions, so they can minister on their own. : 2. Christian Life – This agency's role is to promote and develop the role of Christian women, Christian youth, and Christian families to be witnesses of Jesus Christ and to promote the development of quality and proficient personnel. : 3. Ministry of Finance and Property – this agency is responsible for managing the administration, finance, accounting, budgeting and all assets of the CCT, and for providing benefits for personnel in the CCT : 4. Education – This agency's role is to develop Christian youth and church members in general, both formally and informally. : 5. Medical Ministry – This agency is responsible for providing medical treatment, and physical, mental, social and spiritual support, including rehabilitative health and illness prevention, and to share Jesus Christ with hospital patients.

Demographics

Since 1990, the denomination has experienced a major demographic shift. Tribal churches, mostly Baptist in origin, now account for about half of its total number of around 160,000 communicant members. CCT consists of Thai, Chinese, Karen, and English-speaking congregations.

Theology

The CCT is a member of the

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most juri ...

, the

World Communion of Reformed Churches The World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) is the largest association of Calvinist churches in the world. It has 230 member denominations in 108 countries, together claiming an estimated 80 million people, thus being the fourth-largest Chris ...

and the

Christian Conference of Asia The Christian Conference of Asia is a regional ecumenical organisation representing 15 National Councils and over 100 denominations (churches) in New Zealand, Australia, Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, East Timor, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Laos ...

and is often regarded as a "mainline" ecumenical denomination. The CCT maintains fraternal ties with the PCUSA and receives fraternal mission workers from that American denomination. However, despite the influence of liberal theology and ecumenical concerns at the top leadership levels in the period following World War II, such trends did not have a large impact on the majority of CCT pastors and church members. Today, the beliefs and practices of the majority of CCT leaders and members are broadly

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

. Its church government is a relatively centralized mixture of Presbyterian, Disciples, and Baptist polities.

Social Work

The Church of Christ in Thailand is engaged in active social efforts (

health care Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profe ...

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

) and ecumenical movements in local society. In 2004 – 2005 the association took active part in relief efforts after the natural disaster of

Boxing Day tsunami An earthquake and a tsunami, known as the Boxing Day Tsunami and, by the scientific community, the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, occurred at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7) on 26 December 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of northern Suma ...

.''Church World Service News, January 2005''

References

External links

Official website
(Thai) {{Authority control

Christian organizations established in 1934 Christian denominations established in the 20th century 1934 establishments in Siam United and uniting churches Protestantism in Thailand Evangelical denominations in Asia