The Bohuai of Papua New Guinea

The Bohuai of Papua New Guinea, numbering approximately 4,700 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are described as one of three dialects of Tulu-Bohuai (rak), a language of Papua New Guinea They are an Indigenous people, with Bohuai as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the New Guinea people cluster of the Pacific Islander Peoples. Their primary religion is Roman Catholicism. They primarily speak Tulu-Bohuai.

Photo by Google. (2025). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Bohuai

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Pacific Islander Peoples
Country: Papua New Guinea
People Cluster: New Guinea
Primary Language(s): Tulu-Bohuai (rak)
Primary Religion(s): Roman Catholicism
Population: 4,700
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG009803
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Pray for the Bohuai of Papua New Guinea

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Roman Catholicism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

79%
%
Roman Catholicism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Tulu-Bohuai
Language Family: Austronesian

65%
%
Tulu-Bohuai Speakers

Media Resources in Tulu-Bohuai:

Films:

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Bible Resources in Tulu-Bohuai:

Or check out the Tulu-Bohuai bible at Bible.com

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Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 2), 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.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Marginally Reached People Group, (LPI: 4), 3% to 6% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical (GSEC: 4), this people group is greater than or equal to 2% evangelical

Next steps for the Bohuai:
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

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Bohuai 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.

Next steps for the Bohuai:
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

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Bohuai 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.

Next steps for the Bohuai:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Bohuai of Papua New Guinea

Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
read1 John 3:8

Pray for those living in darkness to recognize the destructive power of sin and the victory Christ has won over it.

And many nations shall join themselves to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you.
readZechariah 2:11

Pray that many will take refuge in the Lord and be His people who share the good news of salvation in Jesus with others.

The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot... indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.
readPsalm 16:5-6

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and face hardship, they will remember that God is their portion and cup and that He has a beautiful inheritance for them.

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
read1 Corinthians 15:10–11

Pray that God's people will preach the message of Jesus' death and resurrection and that it will spread among the lost through the selfless witness of believers.

Bohuai Across Countries (ROP3 - 101542) 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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