The Sangirese of Indonesia

The Sangirese of Indonesia, numbering approximately 122,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an indigenous maritime people of the Sangihe Islands in North Sulawesi, with longstanding cultural and migratory connections across the Celebes Sea to Mindanao. They mostly adhere to Protestantism and Sangir is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Indonesia
People Cluster: Minahasa-Sangir of Sulawesi
Primary Language(s): Sangir (sxn)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 122,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 5% or Greater but Less than 10% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG022862
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Pray for the Sangirese 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: Sangir
Language Family: Austronesian

100%
%
Sangir Speakers

Media Resources in Sangir:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Bible Resources in Sangir:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Today's Sangir Version, 2003✓✓
Today's Siau Version✓
Today's Tagulandang Version✓✓

3 entries

Or check out the Sangir bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Sangirese 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 Sangirese:
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 Sangirese 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.

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise).
readEphesians 6:1-2

Pray that God will bring young men and women to faith in Jesus and that the fruit of their faith will be a powerful testimony as they honor their parents.

And they all ate and were satisfied. And what was left over was picked up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.
readLuke 9:17

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will meditate on the stories of Jesus' miracles, be in awe of Him, and trust Him for everything they need.

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
readEphesians 6:11

Pray that those God sends to cross cultures will put on the full armor of God so that they will be able to stand against the schemes of the enemy.

Sangirese Across Countries (ROP3 - 108643) 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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