Church of Christ in Thailand

The Church of Christ in Thailand (C.C.T.) is a Protestant Christian association. It is the largest Protestant denomination in Thailand and is considered to be the largest by group of Protestant members in Thailand.

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 and British Churches of Christ congregations, most of the original member churches were originally Presbyterian congregations. The merger also included Lutherans from the German Marburger Mission. The C.C.T. originally had seven districts, six geographical and one ethnic Chinese. Except for a brief period during World War II, Presbyterian missionary influence remained predominant in the C.C.T. until the late-1970s.

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 130,000 communicant members. The C.C.T. is a member of the World Council of Churches and the Christian Conference of Asia and is generally recognized to be a "mainline" ecumenical denomination. Its church government is a relatively centralized mixture of Presbyterian, Disciples, and Baptist polities.

CCT consists of Thai, Chinese, Karen, and English-speaking congregations. It is a member of the World Council of Churches.

The Church of Christ in Thailand is engaged in active social efforts (health care, education) 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.

See also

• Protestants in Thailand

External links

• http://www.cct.or.th Website of the Church of Christ in Thailand (Thai only)