Christianity in Odisha

Followers of Christianity are a significant minority in Odisha state of India. According to the 2011 Census, Christians make up about 2.77% of the population (about 1,160,000 people).^[1] Kurukh, Sora, Kharia and Panos are notable ethnic groups with a significant Christian population.

The Cathedral Of The Sacred Heart is a Roman Catholic cathedral belonging to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rourkela and one of the oldest church buildings in Rourkela.

History

Bible translations into Odia

The first version in the Odia language of India^[2] was translated by William Carey in 1808 and was distributed among pilgrims at Puri to introduce them to Christianity. Then came the standard version by Amos Sutton in the 1840s.^[3]

Demographics

Christianity in Odisha

Year	Pop.	±%
1951	141,934	—
1961	201,017	+41.6%
1971	378,888	+88.5%
1981	480,426	+26.8%
1991	666,220	+38.7%
2001	897,861	+34.8%
2011	1,161,708	+29.4%
Source: [4][5][6][7][8][9]

Christianity among social group of Odisha, 2011 census^[4][10]

1. Scheduled Tribes (70.33%)
2. General (incl. converted Scheduled Castes) population (29.7%)

The Christians are mostly from the adivasi or tribal communities of the state with 816,981 (70.33%) Christians among STs. The major tribes are as below with number of Christians and percentage of Christians in each tribe.^[10]

Tribe	Christians	Percent
Munda	1,74,119	31.1%
Khond	1,59,783	9.8%
Oraon	1,49,866	41.8%
Soura	1,36,369	25.5%
Kharia	87,069	39.1%
Sabar	37,933	7.3%
Kisan	25,675	7.7%

Places with the largest proportions

The figures indicate percentage of Christians within the districts:^[11]

• Gajapati
  • Serango– 84%
  • Adava– 75%
  • R.Udayagiri– 50%

• Kandhamal
  • Brahmanigaon– 72%
  • Daringbadi– 64%
  • Kotagarh– 58%

• Sundargarh
  • Raiboga– 62%

• Rayagada
  • Puttasing– 80%
  • Chandrapur– 51%

Denominations

Church of God (Anderson), Evangelical Missionary Society in Mayurbhanj and Jeypore Evangelical Lutheran Church are among the Protestant denominations of Odisha.^[12] Christ Church the full Gospel Church, Gospel Outreach Ministries, India Evangelistic Association, Orissa Baptist Evangelistic Crusade and The Pentecostal Mission are among the non-Catholic denominations of Odisha as well.^{[13] [14]} The Church of North India is present in Odisha as well with the dioceses of Cuttack, Phulbani, and Sambalpur. The diocese of Chota Nagpur also serves a small part of Odisha.^[15]

Roman Catholic Church

The archbishop of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar is Archbishop John Barwa. Its suffragan dioceses are:

• Balasore
• Berhampur
• Rourkela
• Sambalpur
• Rayagada

See also

• Christianity in India
• Christian Revival Church