People group profile · PG022885
The Tonsea of Indonesia
The Tonsea of Indonesia, numbering about 147,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a Minahasan sub-people of North Sulawesi tracing common descent from the ancestral figures Toar and Lumimuut, whose Dutch-era mass conversion helped make the Minahasa peninsula a Christian enclave in Muslim-majority Indonesia.
They are an indigenous people in the Minahasa-Sangir of Sulawesi people cluster of the Malay Peoples. Their primary religion is Protestantism, and they primarily speak Tonsea.
Fast facts
- Country
- Indonesia
- Population
- 147,000
- Affinity group
- Asian Pacific Rim Peoples
- People cluster
- Minahasa-Sangir of Sulawesi
- Primary language
- Tonsea (txs)
- Primary religion
- Protestantism
- Strategic Progress Index
- No Longer Unreached
- Evangelical
- 15% or Greater but Less than 20%
- GSEC
- 10% or Greater Evangelical
- Lostness priority
- Moderately Reached People Group
- Region
- South-Eastern Asia, Asia
- Location
- North Sulawesi province: Minahasa Utara regency, Kota Bitung and Kota Manado cities
Where they live
Gospel status
The Tonsea 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 Tonsea
- 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
Primary language
Tonsea · Austronesian family
76% speak Tonsea
Gospel resources in Tonsea
- Bible available, published 2006
- JESUS Film available
- Radio programs not available
- Gospel recordings not available
- Audio resources available
- Bible stories not available
Films
- JESUS (Tonsea)
Bibles
- PPA-GMIM · video, audio
Find more at the JESUS Film Project, Bible.com and Faith Comes by Hearing.
Pray for the Tonsea
- 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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