A CHRONOLOGY OF PROTESTANT BEGINNINGS:
FRENCH GUIANA

by Dr. Clifton L. Holland

(last revised on June 12, 2003)

Historical Overview:

Discovered by the Spanish:                                                                                                  1544

Under Spanish and French control:                                                                                       1604

Territory disputed by the Dutch, French and Portuguese until:                                                 1676

Under French control:                                                                                                          1676        

 

Number of North American Protestant Agencies in 1997:                                                              5

Indicates European society*

Significant Protestant Beginnings or Other Key Events

     1624       -    First French Protestants arrive; this is considered to be the origin of the Evangelical Church of French Guiana, which was officially established in 1997.

 

     1636       -    *Roman Catholicism established by the Spanish and French; the Diocese of Cayenne was established in 1956.

 

     1900s     -    *Early 20th century arrival of the Christian Brethren (the Open Plymouth Brethren)

 

     1940       -    Seventh-day Adventists

 

     1982       -    Southern Baptist Convention

    

     1986       -    The Evangelical Church of the West Indies (West Indies Mission, now World Team)

 

     1988       -    The Church of the Nazarene

 

     1991       -    Church of God of Prophecy

 

 

Date of Origin Unknown:

 

 

NOTES:

(1)       Dates listed indicate the earliest recorded ministry or in case of discrepancies, the date most frequently indicated.

 

(2)       North American Agencies include U.S. and Canadian.

SOURCES:

(1) Daryl L. Platt, "Who Represents the Evangelical Churches in Latin America? A Study of the Evangelical Fellowship Organizations." Pasadena, CA: an unpublished Doctor of Missiology Dissertation, School of World Mission, Fuller Theological Seminary, June 1991. Used by permission of the author.

(2) PROLADES (Latin American Socio-religious Studies Program), international headquarters in San José, Costa Rica: www.prolades.com, prolades@racsa.co.cr

            (3) John A. Siewert and Edna G. Valdez, editors: Mission Handbook of U.S. and Canadian Christian Ministries Overseas (MARC 1997).

(4) Jean-Jacques Bauswein and Lukas Vischer, The Reformed Family Worldwide (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1999).