People group profile · PG022706
The Selaru of Indonesia
The Selaru of Indonesia, numbering about 11,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are the dominant Austronesian people of Selaru Island in the Tanimbar archipelago, whose village heads signed an exclusive 1647 trade contract with the Dutch East India Company, their population later halved by a mid-nineteenth-century smallpox outbreak.
They are an indigenous people in the Maluku-Southern people cluster of the Malay Peoples. Their primary religion is Protestantism, and they primarily speak Selaru.
Fast facts
- Country
- Indonesia
- Population
- 11,000
- Affinity group
- Asian Pacific Rim Peoples
- People cluster
- Maluku-Southern
- Primary language
- Selaru (slu)
- Primary religion
- Protestantism
- Strategic Progress Index ?
- No Longer Unreached
- Evangelical
- 50% or Greater but Less than 75%
- GSEC ?
- 10% or Greater Evangelical
- Lostness priority ?
- Significantly Reached People Group
- Region
- South-Eastern Asia, Asia
- Location
- Maluku province: Maluku Tenggara Barat regency, Tanimbar island group; at least 6 villages on Nuswotar, Selaru, and Yamdena islands; some in Ambon and Saumlaki
Where they live
Gospel status
The Selaru are No Longer Unreached, which means 2% or more are evangelical Christians. In GSEC terms, this people group is greater than or equal to 10% evangelical.
- Congregations exist Yes
- Church planting in the last two years No Churches Planted
Next steps for the Selaru
- Pray for the churches among this group to grow in faithfulness and maturity
- Equip believers to reach the unreached peoples around them
- Send out laborers from this people to the nations
Primary religion
Protestantism · Christianity
69% adherents
Primary language
Selaru · Austronesian family
76% speak Selaru
Gospel resources in Selaru
- Bible available, published 2015
- JESUS Film available
- Radio programs not available
- Gospel recordings available
- Audio resources available
- Bible stories not available
Films
- JESUS (Selaru)
Bibles
- Selaru Book of Mark · video, audio, text
Find more at the JESUS Film Project, Bible.com and Faith Comes by Hearing.
Pray for the Selaru
- Romans 10:14–15. Ask God to send messengers, so that people can hear, believe and call on the name of the Lord.
- Matthew 9:37–38. Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest field.
- 2 Timothy 2:2. Pray for faithful local leaders who will teach others, so that the church multiplies.
- Ephesians 5:8. Pray that those walking in darkness will turn to the light and live as children of light.
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