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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Bola of Papua New Guinea

The Bola of Papua New Guinea, numbering approximately 29,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an indigenous ethnic group of Papua New Guinea, West New Britain province: northeast coast, Willaumez Peninsula. They mostly adhere to Roman Catholicism and Bola is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Bola

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Pacific Islander Peoples
Country: Papua New Guinea
People Cluster: New Guinea
Primary Language(s): Bola (bnp)
Primary Religion(s): Roman Catholicism
Population: 29,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG009807
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Pray for the Bola of Papua New Guinea

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Roman Catholicism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

81%
%
Roman Catholicism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Bola
Language Family: Austronesian

65%
%
Bola Speakers

Media Resources in Bola:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Bola:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2011 Wycliffe Bible Translators✓✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Bola bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Bola 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 Bola:
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 Bola of Papua New Guinea

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.
readTitus 3:3

Pray for those who seek worldly pleasures instead of God to flee from sin and choose God’s goodness and lovingkindness by placing their faith in Jesus.

And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
readMatthew 24:14

Pray that the gospel of God's kingdom will reach more people and that they will respond in faith, becoming disciples of Jesus Christ.

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
readPsalm 27:1

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, God will strengthen them when they face persecution of any kind for Jesus' name’s sake.

And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven."
readMatthew 16:17

Pray that God who is in heaven will place believers in the lives of people who need to encounter the gospel and that He will reveal to them the truth of what they hear.

Bola Across Countries (ROP3 - 114882) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group ID ▼NameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
BolaPG009807BolaPapua New Guinea29,000No Longer UnreachedBolaRoman Catholicism

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 Data Standards section.

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