People group profile · PG007221
The Awa of China
The Awa of China, numbering about 90,500 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an Austroasiatic hill people of the China-Myanmar borderlands historically called Kawa before China fixed the name Wa in 1962, whose oral tradition traces ancestral emergence at Sigangli before migration to the Lancang and Salween river valleys.
They are an indigenous people in the Mon-Khmer people cluster of the Southeast Asian Peoples. Their primary religion is Animism, and they primarily speak Wa.
Fast facts
- Country
- China
- Population
- 90,500
- Affinity group
- Asian Pacific Rim Peoples
- People cluster
- Mon-Khmer
- Primary language
- Wa (wbm)
- Primary religion
- Animism
- 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
- Eastern Asia, Asia
Where they live
Gospel status
The Awa 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 Awa
- 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
Animism · Ethnoreligion
100% adherents
Primary language
Wa · Austroasiatic family
100% speak Wa
Gospel resources in Wa
- Bible available, published 2016
- JESUS Film available
- Radio programs not available
- Gospel recordings available
- Audio resources not available
- Bible stories not available
Films
- JESUS (Wa, Vo)
Find more at the JESUS Film Project, Bible.com and Faith Comes by Hearing.
Pray for the Awa
- 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.
- 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.
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