Protestantism in South Africa accounted for 73.2% of the population in 2010. Its history dates back to the initial

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

an settlement on the Cape of Good Hope in 1652. Since then, Protestantism has been the predominant religion of the European settlers and today, of South Africa as a whole.

Protestant churches in South Africa

According to the CIA Factbook, while the majority of South Africans are Protestant, no individual church predominates. The largest Protestant denomination in the country is

Pentecostalism Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

, followed by

Methodism Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's br ...

Dutch Reformed The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family and ...

and

Anglicans Anglicanism is a Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia ...

. Protestant denominations in South Africa include: *

Afrikaanse Protestantse Kerk The Afrikaanse Protestantse Kerk (APK; ''Afrikaans Protestant Church''), also known as AP Kerk, is a South African conservative Reformed Church federation with about 35,000 adherents. The federation consists of 210-240 congregations, mostly in ...

(Reformed/Calvinist) *

Anglican Church of Southern Africa The Anglican Church of Southern Africa, known until 2006 as the Church of the Province of Southern Africa, is the province of the Anglican Communion in the southern part of Africa. The church has twenty-five dioceses, of which twenty-one are loc ...

Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa The Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa (AFM) is a classical Pentecostal Christian denomination in South Africa. With 1.2 million adherents, it is South Africa's largest Pentecostal church and the fifth largest religious grouping in South Af ...

(Pentacostalist) * Baptist Union of Southern Africa * Church of England in South Africa (outside the Anglican Communion, theological Reformed member of the

World Reformed Fellowship The World Reformed Fellowship (WRF) is an ecumenical Christian organization which promotes unity between confessional Calvinist churches around the world. History The World Fellowship of Reformed Churches was formed in 1994 by the Presbyterian ...

) * Christian Reformed Church in South Africa * Free Church in Southern Africa (Presbyterian/Calvinist) * Die heilsleer (Salvation Army) *

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa is a Lutheran church in South Africa. The church has 580,000 baptized members in seven dioceses in South Africa, Botswana, and Eswatini, and is (by a wide margin) the largest Lutheran church in th ...

Methodist Church of Southern Africa The Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA) is a large Wesleyan Methodist denomination, with local churches across South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho and Eswatini, and a more limited presence in Mozambique. It is a member church of the ...

Nazareth Baptist Church The Nazareth Baptist Church (Alternatively called "The Nazarite Church" "iBandla lamaNazaretha") is the second largest, African initiated church based in South Africa, founded in 1910. It reveres Shembe as a prophet sent by God to restore the t ...

Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NGK) is a Reformed Christian denomination in South Africa. It also has a presence in neighbouring countries, such as Namibia, Eswatini, and parts of Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia.

(Reformed/Calvinist) * Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika (Reformed/Calvinist) *

Presbyterian Church of Africa The Presbyterian Church of Africa was founded in 1898 by Rev. James Mzimba, who broke from the Church of Scotland. He was born in Ngquakai, and his father was a deacon in the Presbyterian Church. Mzimba become a pastor, and was ordained in 1875. He ...

Reformed Churches in South Africa The Reformed Churches in South Africa () is a Christian denomination in South Africa that was formed in 1859 in Rustenburg. Members of the church are sometimes referred to as ''Doppers''. History of the Gereformeerde Kerke in South Africa In ...

* United Congregational Church of Southern Africa *

Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa The Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa (''UPCSA'') was formed and constituted in 1999 as the outcome of the union between the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa (''RPCSA'') and the Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa (' ...

Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa The Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa () was formed by the union of the black and coloured Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk mission churches. Main markers in the URCSA'S history In 1652 the Dutch formed a halfway station at the Cape, which ...

* Zionist Churches (Pentacostalist)

Sources

CIA Factbook on South Africa

Protestant churches in South Africa

See also

Sources

References

Further reading