The Protestant faith was introduced to Angola in 1878 by Baptist missionaries. This was almost 400 years after a Catholic mission had been established there.[3]
Missionary groups in the 1880s included the English Baptist Missionary Society, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, the United Church of Canada, the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Brethren’s Mission.[4]
Many of the nationalist independence leaders were raised as Protestants, including Agostinho Neto (Methodist), Holden Roberto (Baptist) and Jonas Savimbi (Congregational).
The last census in 2014 noted that 24.4% of the population were Protestant or Pentecostal.[5] Estimates in 2022 suggested that 38% of the population are now Protestant.[6]
In 2021, the largest Protestant groups included Baptists in Luanda and the northwest of the country, Lutherans in the south, Methodists, Adventists, New Apostolic Christians and Jehovah’s Witnesses, as well as new communities such as the Igréja Unida do Reino de Deus (United Church of the Kingdom of God).[7]
The government of Angola recognizes 11 Protestant denominations: