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People group profile · PG016944

The Kapinawa of Brazil

The Kapinawa of Brazil, numbering about 2,500 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a people of Pernambuco's Serra do Macaco descended from the Prakio mission community founded in 1710, who rediscovered their Indigenous identity amid a 1970s land struggle and perform the Tore ceremony to invoke ancestors dwelling in rock caves.

They are an indigenous people in the South American Indigenous people cluster of the Latin American and Caribbean Peoples. Their primary religion is Ethnoreligion, and they primarily speak Portuguese.

Pray for the KapinawaPrint profile

AI-generated illustration representing the Kapinawa people
AI-generated illustration, not a photograph. Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Kapinawa

Fast facts

Country
Brazil
Population
2,500
Affinity group
American Peoples
People cluster
South American Indigenous
Primary language
Portuguese (por)
Primary religion
Ethnoreligion
Strategic Progress Index
Engaged yet Unreached
Evangelical
No Known Evangelicals
GSEC
Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
Lostness priority
Frontier Unreached People Group
Region
South America, Americas

Where they live

Gospel status

The Kapinawa 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 No
  • Church planting in the last two years No Churches Planted

Next steps for the Kapinawa

  • 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

Ethnoreligion

70% adherents

Primary language

Portuguese · Indo-European family

100% speak Portuguese

Gospel resources in Portuguese

  • Bible available
  • JESUS Film available
  • Radio programs available
  • Gospel recordings available
  • Audio resources available
  • Bible stories available

Films

Bibles

Find more at the JESUS Film Project, Bible.com and Faith Comes by Hearing.

Pray for the Kapinawa

  1. Ephesians 5:8. Pray that those walking in darkness will turn to the light and live as children of light.
  2. Romans 10:14–15. Ask God to send messengers, so that people can hear, believe and call on the name of the Lord.
  3. Matthew 9:37–38. Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest field.
  4. 2 Timothy 2:2. Pray for faithful local leaders who will teach others, so that the church multiplies.

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