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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Mawak of Papua New Guinea

The Mawak of Papua New Guinea, numbering approximately 60 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are described as an indigenous ethnic group of Papua New Guinea They are an Indigenous people, with Mawak 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 Miani.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Pacific Islander Peoples
Country: Papua New Guinea
People Cluster: New Guinea
Primary Language(s): Miani (pla)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 60
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG010197
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Pray for the Mawak 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: Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

85%
%

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Miani
Language Family: Nuclear Trans New Guinea

100%
%

Media Resources in Miani:

Films:

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Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Miani:

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Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Miani 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): Significantly Reached People Group, (LPI: 6), > 20% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical (GSEC: 6), this people group is greater than or equal to 10% evangelical

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

"...And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold." As he said these things, he called out, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
readLuke 8:8

Pray that the seeds of truth will take root in the hearts of those who are far from Jesus and that He will lead them from darkness to light.

Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
readMatthew 16:16

Pray that many will see clearly that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and put their trust in Him.

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 as people place their faith in Christ, they will abide in Him and have assurance that He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart.
readPsalm 15:1-2

Ask God to send believers who will go and, with integrity, walk blamelessly and do what is right, speaking truth about the Lord with those who need to learn about His redemption plan.

Mawak Across Countries (ROP3 - 106430) 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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