People group profile · PG023103
The Yava of Indonesia
The Yava of Indonesia, numbering about 11,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a people of central Yapen Island in Cenderawasih Bay whose Yawa language forms its own independent, non-Austronesian family alongside the now-moribund Saweru, notable for a split-intransitive grammatical structure that is typologically rare in New Guinea.
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 Yawa.
Fast facts
- Country
- Indonesia
- Population
- 11,000
- Affinity group
- Asian Pacific Rim Peoples
- People cluster
- New Guinea
- Primary language
- Yawa (yva)
- Primary religion
- Protestantism
- Strategic Progress Index ?
- No Longer Unreached
- Evangelical
- 40% or Greater but Less than 50%
- GSEC ?
- 10% or Greater Evangelical
- Lostness priority ?
- Significantly Reached People Group
- Region
- South-Eastern Asia, Asia
- Location
- Papua province: central Yapen island, 8 north coast villages, 2 interior villages, and 18 south coast villages
Where they live
Gospel status
The Yava 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 Yava
- 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
45% adherents
Primary language
Yawa · Yawa-Saweru family
100% speak Yawa
Gospel resources in Yawa
- Bible available, published 2014
- JESUS Film available
- Radio programs not available
- Gospel recordings available
- Audio resources available
- Bible stories not available
Films
- JESUS (Yawa)
Bibles
- YASUMA, 2011 · audio, text
Find more at the JESUS Film Project, Bible.com and Faith Comes by Hearing.
Pray for the Yava
- 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.
- Romans 12:4–5. Pray that believers from many cultures will work together as one body so that the church is built up.
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