The Irumu of Papua New Guinea

The Irumu of Papua New Guinea, numbering approximately 2,300 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an indigenous ethnic group of Papua New Guinea. They mostly adhere to Protestantism and Tuma-Irumu is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Pacific Islander Peoples
Country: Papua New Guinea
People Cluster: New Guinea
Primary Language(s): Tuma-Irumu (iou)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 2,300
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 5% or Greater but Less than 10% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG020281
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Pray for the Irumu 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

40%
%
Protestantism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Tuma-Irumu
Language Family: Nuclear Trans New Guinea

100%
%
Tuma-Irumu Speakers

Media Resources in Tuma-Irumu:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Bible Resources in Tuma-Irumu:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
1997, 2011 Wycliffe Bible Translators, Inc.✓✓✓

1 entry

Or check out the Tuma-Irumu bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Irumu 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 Irumu:
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 Irumu of Papua New Guinea

And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
readExodus 14:22

Pray that the God who split the sea so that the Israelites might pass through would do another great work among these people, softening the hearts of those who remain lost to the good news and saving them from their sins.

And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region.
readActs 13:48-49

Pray that the gospel will spread throughout this whole region and that many will believe and embrace the gift of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ.

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples."
readJohn 8:31

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will abide in Christ daily, depending on Him for every need.

And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you.
readLuke 10:6

Pray that, as people come to faith in Christ and want to share it with others, they will be welcomed into homes and received well so that they can share message of hope with many people.

Irumu Across Countries (ROP3 - 104071) 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.

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