History of protestantism in South America from 1492 to 1901

This article is an extract from an article written vu Mariel Deluca Voth
Library Director, Bethel Seminary San Diego :"Latin American Archives: A survey of historical protestant sources"


The first major incursion of Protestantism into South America took place under the umbrella of Spanish authority (this is the case of German Lutherans that arrived in Venezuela in 1529). But it is in Brazil where the first French Protestant colony is founded in 1555 and where the first Confession of the Christian Faith that included 17 articles was written in 1555. It is interesting to note that this took place two years before the Pilgrims came to Plymouth in the United States in 1620

Protestantism and Inquisition (1492-1655)

-1529 German Lutherans settlers arrive in Venezuela

-1555-1654 Hugonote colony in Isla Villegaigon (island across present Rio de Janeiro)

-1623-35 Anglicans entered the Caribbean western islands

-1630-1654 Reformed Church congregations are formed in the Dutch colony of Pernambuco

-1655 Anglican Church enters Jamaica

Protestantism and Enlightenment (1655-1808)

-1667 Reformed Church enters Surinam

-1701 Creation of the Anglican missionary society

-1735 Moravian missionaries in Dutch Guyana and Surinam

-1783 Baptist missionaries enter Jamaica

-1797 Anglicans enter Trinidad

Samuel Escobar writes that “pioneers of the Protestant movement came during the period of the war of independence from Spain (1810-1824)”

-1806 British Foreign Bible Society sends David Creighton to Uruguay

-1818-1821 James (Diego) Thomson, Scottish Baptist Pastor and British Foreign Bible Society representative, lands in Buenos Aires and begins Protestant worship services. His missionary activity took him throughout Latin America including the Caribbean.

-1822 Baptists enter Belize

-1824 Lutheran German settle in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

-1824 Anglican Church begins in Chile (L. Matthews)

-1824 Methodists enter Belize

-1825 Anglican Church begins activities in Buenos Aires (J. Armstrong)

-1825 Presbyterian Church begins activities in Argentina

-1834 Lutheran Church is organized in Argentina

-1836 Methodist Church arrives to Argentina and Uruguay with J.Dempster.

-1842 German Evangelical Congregation begins in Buenos Aires


-1853 Separation of Church and State and first proclamation of freedom of religion in Colombia

-1856 Waldensian group enters Uruguay

-1857-1917 Protestant beginnings in Mexico (Baptists in 1864, Friends in 1871, Congregationalist in 1872, Presbyterian in 1872, Methodist in 1873, Brethren 1891, Seven Day Adventist in 1891, Nazarene 1903)

-1859 Waldensian Church enters Argentina

-1859 Methodist Church enters Peru

-1864 American Bible Society appoint Andrew M Milne to work in Latin America

-1872 Presbyterian Church begins in Chile with D. Trumbull

-1873 First British YMCA in Buenos Aires

-1874 Anglicans enter Puerto Rico

-1877 Methodist Church begins in Chile with bishop W. Taylor

-1882 Plymouth Brethren begin their work in Argentina

-1883 Methodists enter Cuba

-1886 Organization of the Rio Grande do Sul Lutheran Synod

-1886 Methodist Church enters Paraguay

-1890 Salvation Army enters Argentina

-1890 Seventh Adventist enters Argentina

-1891 Salvation Army enters Montevideo, Uruguay

-1891 Seventh Adventist enters Honduras

-1893 German Lutheran Church starts in Asunción, Paraguay

-1893 Seventh Adventist enters Mexico

-1895 Creation of the South American Diocese of the Church of England

-1895 Christian and Missionary Alliance begins ministry in Venezuela

-1895 Seventh Adventist enters Chile, Uruguay

-1897 Christian and Missionary Alliance begins ministry in Argentina, Chile and Ecuador

1895-1914 Salvation Army, Church of God, Christian and Missionary Alliance, Church of the Nazarene and Pilgrim Holiness Church begin ministry in Latin America

-1898 Seventh-Day Adventist enters Peru

-1901-1915 Seventh-Day Adventist enters Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Venezuela and El Salvador