Where the church stands in Thailand
Protestant missionaries have worked in Thailand since the 1820s. The country has never been colonised, never been closed, and has one of the lowest Christian percentages in Asia. To be Thai has long been understood to mean being Buddhist; the two identities are woven together.
Most Christian growth has come among tribal peoples in the north rather than among the Central Thai majority. Thousands of Thai villages have no church and no believer, and hundreds of districts have no Christian witness at all.
Signs of hope
Growing churches among northern tribal peoples, and a slowly rising number of Thai-led urban congregations.
The honest difficulty
National identity fused with Buddhism, and thousands of villages with no believer of any kind.
What "Unreached" means
There is no indigenous community of believing Christians large enough to evangelise the rest of the nation without outside help. Commonly measured as under 2% evangelical.
In Thailand the majority religious context is Buddhism (~92%). The largest population still considered without meaningful Gospel access is the Central Thai (~25 million).
How to pray for Thailand
Prayer is not a substitute for going; it is how going begins. Take one of these for a week rather than all of them for a day.
- Pray for the Central Thai — a large people almost untouched after two centuries.
- Ask God for Thai believers who can follow Jesus without feeling less Thai.
- Pray for villages and districts with no church at all.
- Pray for those trapped in Thailand's trafficking and sex industry.
Questions people ask about Thailand
Is Thailand an unreached nation?
Thailand is classified as unreached. There is no indigenous community of believing Christians large enough to evangelise the rest of the nation without outside help. Commonly measured as under 2% evangelical. Roughly 1.2% of the population identifies as Christian and about 0.6% as evangelical, with an estimated 90 of its 120 people groups still considered unreached. Figures are rounded estimates and vary by source and year.
How many Christians are there in Thailand?
About 1.2% of Thailand's roughly 72 million people identify as Christian — approximately 864,000 people. Around 0.6% are evangelical. The largest group still without meaningful Gospel access is the Central Thai (~25 million).
How can I pray for Thailand?
Pray for the Central Thai — a large people almost untouched after two centuries. Ask God for Thai believers who can follow Jesus without feeling less Thai. Pick one of these, pray it for two minutes a day for a week, and ask one other person to pray it with you.