People group profile · PG006305
The Thulunge Rai of Nepal
The Thulunge Rai of Nepal, numbering about 36,500 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Kirati Rai subgroup of Nepal's Solukhumbu district in the eastern Himalaya, whose traditional Mundum religion venerating ancestors Sumnima and Paruhang persists alongside Hindu identity.
They are an indigenous people in the South Himalayan people cluster of the Himalayan Peoples. Their primary religion is Hinduism, and they primarily speak Thulung.
Fast facts
- Country
- Nepal
- Population
- 36,500
- Affinity group
- South Asian Peoples
- People cluster
- South Himalayan
- Primary language
- Thulung (tdh)
- Primary religion
- Hinduism
- Strategic Progress Index
- Engaged yet Unreached
- Evangelical
- Less than 2%
- GSEC
- Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
- Lostness priority
- Frontier Unreached People Group
- Region
- Southern Asia, Asia
- Location
- Kosi province: Khotang district, Aineselukhark municipality; Okhaldhunga district, Chisankhugadhi municipality; Solukhumbu district, Dudhkaushika, Dudhkoshi, Nechasalyan, and Solududhakunda municipalities
Where they live
Gospel status
The Thulunge Rai are Engaged yet Unreached, which means fewer than 2% are evangelical Christians, but there are sustained efforts to establish self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. In GSEC terms, this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years.
- Congregations exist Yes
- Church planting in the last two years No Churches Planted
Next steps for the Thulunge Rai
- Continue prayer and fasting for this group
- Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
- Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people
Primary religion
99% adherents
Primary language
Thulung · Sino-Tibetan family
100% speak Thulung
Gospel resources in Thulung
- Bible available, published 2017
- JESUS Film not available
- Radio programs not available
- Gospel recordings available
- Audio resources available
- Bible stories not available
Find more at the JESUS Film Project, Bible.com and Faith Comes by Hearing.
Pray for the Thulunge Rai
- John 17:3. Pray that many will come to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he has sent.
- Psalm 27:1. Pray that new believers will be strengthened in the face of persecution, with the Lord as their stronghold.
- Romans 12:4–5. Pray that believers from many cultures will work together as one body so that the church is built up.
- Revelation 7:9. Pray for the day when people from this group stand before the throne with every nation, tribe, people and language.
Know something we don't? Submit updates to IMB Global Research.