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People group profile · PG022488

The Belide of Indonesia

The Belide of Indonesia, numbering about 87,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic Malay community of South Sumatra that maintains a distinct Belide identity through river-centered settlement patterns and a regional dialect closely related to neighboring Musi and Ogan speech communities.

They are an indigenous people in the Ogan of Sumatra people cluster of the Malay Peoples. Their primary religion is Sunni Islam, and they primarily speak Musi.

Pray for the BelidePrint profile

AI-generated illustration representing the Belide people
AI-generated illustration, not a photograph. Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: Belide

Fast facts

Country
Indonesia
Population
87,000
Affinity group
Asian Pacific Rim Peoples
People cluster
Ogan of Sumatra
Primary language
Musi (mui)
Primary religion
Sunni Islam
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-Eastern Asia, Asia
Location
South Sumatra province: widespread in northern 2 thirds of province from Musi river upstream to Bukit Barisan mountains, downstream to coastal swamplands; Lampung province: northeast; border areas in Jambi and Bengkulu provinces

Where they live

Gospel status

The Belide 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 Belide

  • 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

Sunni Islam · Islam

100% adherents

Primary language

Musi · Austronesian family

100% speak Musi

Gospel resources in Musi

  • Bible available, published 2019
  • JESUS Film available
  • Radio programs not available
  • Gospel recordings available
  • Audio resources not available
  • Bible stories not available

Films

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

Pray for the Belide

  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.

Download a prayer guide

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