[[مسیحیت|مسیحیوں]] کی مطابق مسیحیت کو [[توما]] iسرینے پہلی صدی عیسوی میں سری لنکا میں متعارف کرایا<ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.lk/books?id=OzEOKNPsv2EC&pg=PA259&lpg=PA259&dq=Apostle+Thomas+arrived+in+Sri+Lanka&source=bl&ots=u_f-sizHMB&sig=1X7wPU-lxfkU9c1xN8SRnRx1b2Y&hl=en&sa=X&ei=OOzuVNrwN4WXuASFj4DQBA&ved=0CE4Q6AEwCTgK#v=onepage&q=Apostle%20Thomas%20arrived%20in%20Sri%20Lanka&f=false | title=Peoples of the Buddhist World: A Christian Prayer Diary | publisher=William Carey Library | date=2004 | accessdate=26 فروری 2015 | author=Hattaway, Paul}}</ref> (as well asجیسے [[بھارت]]) during the 1st century. After his arrival, small Christian settlements were recorded to have been established on Sri Lanka's coastline.{{Dubious|date=ستمبر 2010}} However, the population of Christians in Sri Lanka didn't dramatically increase until the arrival of [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] missionaries during the 15th century. In the 17th century, the [[نیدرلینڈز]] took over Sri Lanka and Dutch missionaries were able to convert 21% of Sri Lanka's population to Christianity by 1622.۔
In 1796 the Dutch were displaced by the British and in 1802 Ceylon became a Crown colony. [[انگلیکانیت]] اور دیگر [[پروٹسٹنٹ مسیحیت]] missionaries arrived at Sri Lanka during the early 19th century, when the British took control of Sri Lanka from the Dutch. Under British rule missionary work was undertaken by English societies: Baptist, Wesleyan Methodist, the CMS and SPG.<ref>[http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O95-SriLankaChristianityin.html Sri Lanka, Christianity in The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church] | 2000 | [[Elizabeth Livingstone|E. A. LIVINGSTONE]]</ref> The [[سالویشن آرمی]] and [[یہوواہ کے گواہ]] are also present in Sri Lanka.
Even so, Christianity has heavily declined in Sri Lanka ever since the end of colonial rule. By the 1980s, the population of Christians (mostly concentrated in the northwest of Sri Lanka) reached 1,283,600, 8% of Sri Lanka's population. Of these Christians, about 88% are [[کاتھولک کلیسیا]]s and the rest are Anglican and Protestant.