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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Chali of Bhutan

The Chali of Bhutan, numbering approximately 1,900 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic community of Bhutan They are an Indigenous people, in the Bhutanese people cluster of the Tibetan Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Buddhism - Tibetan. They primarily speak Chalikha.

Chali in Bhutan photo
Photo courtesy of Joshua Project. Photo Source: Copyrighted ©️ 2025 Peoples of the Buddhist World, Asia Harvest Used with permission

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: Bhutan
People Cluster: Bhutanese
Primary Language(s): Chalikha (tgf)
Primary Religion(s): Buddhism - Tibetan
Population: 1,900
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG001241
View on Joshua Project

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Pray for the Chali of Bhutan

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Buddhism - Tibetan
Religious Affiliation: Buddhism

%
Buddhism - Tibetan Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Chalikha
Language Family: Sino-Tibetan

%
Chalikha Speakers

Media Resources in Chalikha:

Films:

No entries found for: Chalikha(tgf). Help build some!

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Chalikha:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Chalikha bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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Next steps for the Chali

The Chali are Unengaged and Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

Next steps for the Chali

The Chali are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

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

Next steps for the Chali

The Chali are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Chali of Bhutan

The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.
readMatthew 4:16

Pray that those living in darkness and the shadow of death will see a great light and turn to the Lord for salvation.

Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
readPsalm 67:5

While there are many who do not yet praise God, pray that He will work in their lives, advance the gospel among them, and bring many to saving faith in Christ.

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
readRomans 6:4

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, God will lead those who might hesitate in getting baptized to trust Him as they obey His command, even when obedience is hard.

He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.
readJohn 1:7

Pray that God will raise up witnesses to testify about Jesus so that all might believe, knowing that He is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.

Chali (ROP3 - 114869) reported in the following countries:

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Definitions page.

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