The Republic of Suriname, on the northern coast of South America, was colonised by the British in 1651. In 1667, the Dutch captured the colony and ruled it, except for some brief periods, until Suriname became independent in 1975. The colonisers enslaved people from different ethnicities to work on their plantations. They started with the Indigenous people, wrongly called Indians, and continued with Africans. Following the abolition of slavery, indentured workers were brought from Java and Madeira (1853), China (1858), Barbados (1863), India (1873), Java (1890) and Lebanon (the 1890s). According to a national census in 2012, the total population was 541,638, of which the ancestors of the three largest groups came from Africa (37.3%), India (27.4%) and Java (13.7%).

The first colonists were first members of the Anglican Church. With the arrival of the Dutch, the Dutch Reformed Church became the state church. The Moravians and the Lutherans were tolerated from 1735 and 1741 respectively. The Roman Catholics were allowed to establish a presence only in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Baptists, Adventists, Brethren, Methodists and the Salvation Army established their presence in the country. The 1960s saw the arrival of Pentecostals.

Growth of Christianity

In 1862 the Moravians were the fastest-growing church, accounting for 52% of the total population. By 2012 this number had fallen to 11.2%. The Roman Catholics were the second largest in 1862, with 22% of the population. By 2012, they had become the largest Christian denomination, accounting for 21.9% of the Surinamese. Their growth can be attributed to the involvement of local pastoral workers, who were trained to serve in their communities. In earlier years the membership of the Moravian and the Roman Catholic churches came from the lower class, mostly enslaved people. Today their members come from all walks of life. The Lutherans and Dutch Reformed Church together accounted for 16% in 1862 but 1.2% in 2012. They lost members to Pentecostal churches, the fastest-growing religious movement in Suriname. By 2012, 11.2% of the population were Pentecostals, the second-largest Christian group after the Roman Catholics.