Revisiting the Dating of the First and Oldest Protestant Church in Siam

This article reconsiders one of the key dates in Asian Christian history, the supposed 1837 founding of today’s Maitrichit Church, Bangkok, usually considered the first and oldest Protestant church in Siam. It examines three potential dates: (1) the founding of the first Baptist Chinese immigrant de facto church in 1833; (2) the formal establishment of that church led by a visiting representative of the American Baptist Foreign Missionary Society in 1837; and (3) the apparent withdrawal of the Chinese members from the 1830s church to form a new, separate church in 1861. The article concludes that Maitrichit Church began in 1833 and is, indeed, the first and oldest Protestant church in Siam.