The Wahau Kenyah of Indonesia

The Wahau Kenyah of Indonesia, numbering approximately 9,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a Wehea, or Wahau, subgroup of the Modang-Kenyah peoples along the Mahakam River's tributaries in East Kalimantan's Kutai Regency, tracing ancestral origin to the Apo Kayan Highlands where Kenyah populations concentrated most heavily until the early 1980s. They mostly adhere to Protestantism and Wahau Kenyah is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Indonesia
People Cluster: Borneo-Kalimantan
Primary Language(s): Wahau Kenyah (whk)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 9,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 5% or Greater but Less than 10% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG022621
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Pray for the Wahau Kenyah of Indonesia

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

—
%
Protestantism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Wahau Kenyah
Language Family: Austronesian

76%
%
Kenyah, Wahau Speakers

Media Resources in Wahau Kenyah:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Bible Resources in Wahau Kenyah:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Or check out the Wahau Kenyah bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Wahau Kenyah 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 Wahau Kenyah:
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 Wahau Kenyah of Indonesia

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 message of hope will reach those who are wandering in darkness, offering them a path to eternal life.

...I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
readPsalm 13:5

Ask God to bring many to trust in His unfailing love and cause their hearts to rejoice in His salvation.

And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!"
readMark 7:9

Pray that as men, women, boys, and girls place their faith in Christ, they will let go of any traditions that do not honor Him.

Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.
readActs 17:29

Pray that God will send out laborers to tell people of the one true God and, as the good news is shared, bring about repentance and belief as they turn from idols and follow Jesus.

Kenyah, Wahau Across Countries (ROP3 - 104841) 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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