The Garifuna of Guatemala

The Garifuna of Guatemala, numbering approximately 21,500 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an Afro-Indigenous people of Central America's Caribbean coast descended from African, Arawak, and Kalinago ancestors. They speak Garifuna, an Arawakan language, and maintain a distinct maritime cultural heritage. They mostly adhere to Folk Catholicism and Garifuna is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash: Garifuna

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Latin American and Caribbean Peoples
Country: Guatemala
People Cluster: Central American Indigenous
Primary Language(s): Garifuna (cab)
Primary Religion(s): Folk Catholicism
Population: 21,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 5% or Greater but Less than 10% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG024711
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Garifuna of Guatemala

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: Folk Catholicism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

85%
%
Folk Catholicism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Garifuna
Language Family: Arawakan

15%
%
Garifuna Speakers

Media Resources in Garifuna:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Bible Resources in Garifuna:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2002 Bible Society of Honduras✓✓

1 entry

Or check out the Garifuna bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Garifuna 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 Garifuna:
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 Garifuna of Guatemala

But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
readMatthew 5:44-45

Pray for those who don't know Jesus to encounter believers who are kind and compassionate and that their imitation of Christ will serve as a testimony that attracts lost people to Jesus.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
readRomans 3:23

Pray that the gospel will advance and many will acknowledge that all have sinned, fall short of God's glory, and need a Savior to reconcile them to God.

So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
readRomans 6:11

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will lay down all evil desires, dying to sin and living for Him alone.

Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.”
readActs 17:32

Ask God to give those He sends to cross cultures wisdom and discernment as they engage in spiritual conversations with those who are curious about the gospel.

Garifuna Across Countries (ROP3 - 101510) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

6 people groups

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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