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The Idate of Timor-Leste

The Idate of Timor-Leste, numbering approximately 18,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an Indigenous highland people centered on Laclubar in Manatuto, whose communities regard ancestral ritual houses and sacred landscape sites as sources of lulik potency. They mostly adhere to Roman Catholicism and Idaté is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Timor-Leste
People Cluster: Timor
Primary Language(s): Idaté (idt)
Primary Religion(s): Roman Catholicism
Population: 18,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG023121
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Pray for the Idate of Timor-Leste

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.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Roman Catholicism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

57%
%
Roman Catholicism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Idaté
Language Family: Austronesian

60%
%
Idaté Speakers

Media Resources in Idaté:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Idaté:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Idaté bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Idate are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Next steps for the Idate:
Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

Pray specifically for the Idate of Timor-Leste

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.

So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.
readRomans 9:16

Pray that the merciful God who is at work in people's hearts will advance His gospel among them.

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.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
readJohn 1:12

Pray that believers will have the opportunity to clearly share the good news with the lost here, so that all people can be invited to trust in Jesus and become children of God.

Idate Across Countries (ROP3 - 103949) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group ID ▼NameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
IdatePG023121IdateTimor-Leste18,000Engaged yet UnreachedIdatéRoman Catholicism

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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