The Sialum of Papua New Guinea

The Sialum of Papua New Guinea, numbering approximately 900 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an indigenous ethnic group of Papua New Guinea. They mostly adhere to Protestantism and Sialum is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Pacific Islander Peoples
Country: Papua New Guinea
People Cluster: New Guinea
Primary Language(s): Sialum (slw)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 900
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG010442
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Sialum 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.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

42%
%
Protestantism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Sialum
Language Family: Nuclear Trans New Guinea

65%
%
Sialum Speakers

Media Resources in Sialum:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Bible Resources in Sialum:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Or check out the Sialum bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Sialum 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 Sialum:
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 Sialum of Papua New Guinea

Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life"
readJohn 4:13-14

Pray that those who don't know Jesus will drink of the living water that only Christ can provide and never thirst again.

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.
readPsalm 19:1-2

Pray that the lost will see the glory of God revealed in the heavens, that they will hear the good news, and that their hearts will be softened to respond to God’s call, turning to Him in repentance and faith in Jesus Christ for salvation.

For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.
readHebrews 10:36

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will patiently endure suffering and hardships and do God's will so that they may receive what He has promised.

To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law.
read1 Corinthians 9:20

Pray that believers from similar cultures will be compelled by Christ's love to reach people who don't know the gospel, and that those people will receive the good news with joy.

Sialum Across Countries (ROP3 - 108977) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

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.

Scroll to Top