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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Bonerate of Indonesia

The Bonerate of Indonesia, numbering approximately 15,500 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are an island people of Indonesia's Flores Sea south of Selayar, descended from the original island population mixed with early Butonese settlers, linguistically tied to Buton rather than mainland Sulawesi, historically known as skilled boatbuilders. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Bonerate is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Indonesia
People Cluster: Tukangbesi of Sulawesi
Primary Language(s): Bonerate (bna)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 15,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): No Evangelicals, Churches or Resources
People Group ID: PG022795
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Pray for the Bonerate of Indonesia

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

99%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Bonerate
Language Family: Austronesian

100%
%
Bonerate Speakers

Media Resources in Bonerate:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Bonerate:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Bonerate 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: 0), 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): Frontier Unreached People Group, (LPI: 0), < 0.1% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): No Evangelicals, Churches or Resources (GSEC: 0), there are no evangelical Christians or churches among this people group and there is no access to evangelical print, audio, visual or human resources

Next steps for the Bonerate:
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

Pray specifically for the Bonerate of Indonesia

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming.
readColossians 3:5-6

Pray for God to have mercy and give those who don't yet know Him the gift of Jesus and His salvation for all who call upon His name.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
read1 John 1:5

As mobile phones, radio, and satellite television, and other technologies become more available worldwide, pray for people who are developing digital gospel resources so that others can easily access the gospel.

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.
readDeuteronomy 7:9

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will know God's faithful love and keep His commandments, experiencing His steadfast care.

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
readIsaiah 58:7

As believers cross cultures to share the good news of Christ, pray that God will sustain them and grow their faith as He gives them the compassion necessary to minister well to those in need.

Bonerate Across Countries (ROP3 - 101593) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDName ▼CountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
BoneratePG022795BonerateIndonesia15,500Unengaged and UnreachedBonerateSunni Islam

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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