People group profile · PG017277
The Sanapana of Paraguay
The Sanapana of Paraguay, numbering about 1,900 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Maskoy people of the Paraguayan Chaco who call themselves Nenhlet, meaning the people, nomadic hunter-gatherers until the late 1800s who semi-settled at the La Esperanza mission after Mennonite colonists arrived in the 1930s.
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 Sanapaná.
Fast facts
- Country
- Paraguay
- Population
- 1,900
- Affinity group
- American Peoples
- People cluster
- South American Indigenous
- Primary language
- Sanapaná (spn)
- Primary religion
- Ethnoreligion
- Strategic Progress Index
- Engaged yet Unreached
- Evangelical
- Less than 2%
- GSEC
- Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
- Lostness priority
- Expanding Unreached People Group
- Region
- South America, Americas
Where they live
Gospel status
The Sanapana 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 Sanapana
- 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
Primary language
Sanapaná · Lengua-Mascoy family
77% speak Sanapaná
Gospel resources in Sanapaná
- Bible available, published 2010
- 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 Sanapana
- 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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