The Wabo of Indonesia

The Wabo of Indonesia, numbering approximately 2,500 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an indigenous Yapen people of Cenderawasih Bay, traditionally centered in Wabo and Wabompi in East Yapen and maintaining a distinctive local performance culture. They mostly adhere to Animism and Wabo is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: Wabo

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Pacific Islander Peoples
Country: Indonesia
People Cluster: New Guinea
Primary Language(s): Wabo (wbb)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 2,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG023077
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Wabo 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: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

59%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Wabo
Language Family: Austronesian

75%
%
Wabo Speakers

Media Resources in Wabo:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Bible Resources in Wabo:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Or check out the Wabo bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Wabo 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 Wabo:
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 Wabo of Indonesia

For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.
readLuke 19:10

Pray that those who are lost will respond to the One who came to seek and save the lost, and experience the joy of being found.

For my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples.
readLuke 2:30

Pray that the lost will see the salvation of God, and that they will trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.

The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
read2 Corinthians 9:6

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will remember the principle of sowing and reaping, and be generous in their giving and serving, knowing that they will reap a generous harvest.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!
readPsalm 51:2

Pray that God will raise up believers to go and share the gospel with those in this people group who need to be washed of their iniquity and cleansed from their sins.

Wabo Across Countries (ROP3 - 110600) 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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