People group profile · PG023043
The Sempan of Indonesia
The Sempan of Indonesia, numbering about 1,600 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a Papuan ethnolinguistic community of Mimika Regency, Central Papua, Indonesia. They maintain a distinct identity from neighboring Kamoro populations, with traditional ties to coastal rivers, forests, customary lands, and eastern Mimika.
They are an indigenous people in the New Guinea people cluster of the Pacific Islander Peoples. Their primary religion is Protestantism, and they primarily speak Sempan.

Fast facts
- Country
- Indonesia
- Population
- 1,600
- Affinity group
- Asian Pacific Rim Peoples
- People cluster
- New Guinea
- Primary language
- Sempan (xse)
- 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
- Papua province: middle south coast, between Agats and Kokonao
Where they live
Gospel status
The Sempan 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 Sempan
- 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
50% adherents
Primary language
Sempan · Nuclear Trans New Guinea family
76% speak Sempan
Gospel resources in Sempan
- Bible not available
- JESUS Film not available
- Radio programs not available
- Gospel recordings not available
- Audio resources not available
- Bible stories not available
Find more at the JESUS Film Project, Bible.com and Faith Comes by Hearing.
Pray for the Sempan
- Psalm 27:1. Pray that new believers will be strengthened in the face of persecution, with the Lord as their stronghold.
- 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.
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