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The Mambai of Timor-Leste

The Mambai of Timor-Leste, numbering approximately 257,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic community of East Timor. They mostly adhere to Roman Catholicism and Mambae is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Timor-Leste
People Cluster: Timor
Primary Language(s): Mambae (mgm)
Primary Religion(s): Roman Catholicism
Population: 257,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG023126
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Pray for the Mambai 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

97%
%
Roman Catholicism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Mambae
Language Family: Austronesian

100%
%
Mambae Speakers

Media Resources in Mambae:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Mambae:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Mambae bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Mambai 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 Mambai:
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 Mambai of Timor-Leste

While he was coming, the demon threw him to the ground and convulsed him. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.
readLuke 9:42

Pray that those who are living outside of the hope of the gospel will know and trust that Jesus offers freedom from the oppression of sin and hope in eternal life.

The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you appointed for them.
readPsalm 104:8

Pray that they will see the hand of God in the beauty and order of the natural world, and that they will worship Him as the Creator and Sustainer of all things.

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
readJohn 14:3

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will have hope in trials because they know that Jesus will one day take them to be with Him forever.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
readPsalm 23:6

Ask God to raise up believers who will share the hope that, for those who trust in Christ, goodness and love will follow them all the days of their lives, and they will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Mambai Across Countries (ROP3 - 106195) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
MambaiPG023126MambaiTimor-Leste257,000No Longer UnreachedMambaeRoman 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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