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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Mapuche of Chile

The Mapuche of Chile, numbering approximately 1,385,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an indigenous group native to central and southern Chile and the adjacent parts of southwestern Argentina. They are an Indigenous people, in the South American Indigenous people cluster of the Latin American and Caribbean Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Folk Catholicism. They primarily speak Mapudungun.

Mapuche in Argentina photo
Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Mapuche

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: American Peoples
Country: Chile
People Cluster: South American Indigenous
Primary Language(s): Mapudungun (arn)
Primary Religion(s): Folk Catholicism
Population: 1,385,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG017450
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Pray for the Mapuche of Chile

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Folk Catholicism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

%
Folk Catholicism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Mapudungun
Language Family: Araucanian

%
Mapudungun Speakers

Media Resources in Mapudungun:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Mapudungun:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Mapudungun bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Next steps for the Mapuche

The Mapuche are Unengaged and Unreached, 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.

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

Next steps for the Mapuche

The Mapuche 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.

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

Next steps for the Mapuche

The Mapuche 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.

Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Mapuche of Chile

"For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God." Those who heard it said, "Then who can be saved?" But he said "What is impossible with man is possible with God."
readLuke 18:25-27

Pray that the lost who think they have everything they need will recognize their spiritual poverty apart from Jesus and turn to Him in faith.

Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.
readPsalm 119:97

Pray that the lost will have access to God's Word in their language and treasure it deeply, meditating on God's promises and precepts.

The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
readLamentations 3:25

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will trust in the goodness of the Lord as they wait on Him to answer their cries for help.

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
readJohn 12:24

Pray that God will raise up men and women who are willing to die to their own desires, bearing much fruit for the kingdom among individuals and in places where His gospel has not been proclaimed.

Mapuche (ROP3 - 106296) reported in the following countries:

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 Definitions page.

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