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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Bongu of Papua New Guinea

The Bongu of Papua New Guinea, numbering approximately 1,900 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are described as an indigenous ethnic group of Papua New Guinea They are an Indigenous people, with Bongu as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the New Guinea people cluster of the Pacific Islander Peoples. Their primary religion is Protestantism. They primarily speak Bongu.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Pacific Islander Peoples
Country: Papua New Guinea
People Cluster: New Guinea
Primary Language(s): Bongu (bpu)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 1,900
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 5% or Greater but Less than 10% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG009811
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Pray for the Bongu 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.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

25%
%
Protestantism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Bongu
Language Family: Nuclear Trans New Guinea

65%
%
Bongu Speakers

Media Resources in Bongu:

Films:

No entries found for: Bongu(bpu). Help build some!

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Bongu:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Bongu bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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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): 5% or Greater but Less than 10% Evangelical (GSEC: 5), this people group is greater than or equal to 5% evangelical

Next steps for the Bongu:
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 Bongu 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 Bongu:
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 Bongu 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 Bongu:
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 Bongu of Papua New Guinea

Abraham said, "God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." So they went both of them together.
readGenesis 22:8

Pray that God will open the ears of those who are lost to understand and believe that only shed blood takes away sin and that, like Abraham, they will believe that God Himself provides the lamb for the burnt offering, who is Jesus the final, perfect sacrifice.

All the earth worships you and sings praises to you; they sing praises to your name.
readPsalm 66:4

Pray that the good news of Jesus will advance here and that many will bow down and sing praises to His name.

For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.
readActs 17:23

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will have a deep desire to know God more fully and to make Him known in creative ways to others who are still searching for truth.

And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.
readMark 5:20

Pray that God will bring people who appear beyond hope to faith in Jesus and that they will then go and tell others of the marvelous things He has done.

Bongu Across Countries (ROP3 - 101602) 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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