The Bali-Vitu of Papua New Guinea

The Bali-Vitu of Papua New Guinea, numbering approximately 26,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a small Austronesian-speaking island people of Papua New Guinea whose lives center on fishing, village life, and close connections to their volcanic island environment in the Bismarck Sea. They mostly adhere to Roman Catholicism and Uneapa is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2025). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Bali

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Pacific Islander Peoples
Country: Papua New Guinea
People Cluster: New Guinea
Primary Language(s): Uneapa (bbn)
Primary Religion(s): Roman Catholicism
Population: 26,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 5% or Greater but Less than 10% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG018291
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Bali-Vitu of Papua New Guinea

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: Roman Catholicism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

78%
%
Roman Catholicism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Uneapa
Language Family: Austronesian

100%
%
Uneapa Speakers

Media Resources in Uneapa:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Bible Resources in Uneapa:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Or check out the Uneapa bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Bali-Vitu 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 Bali-Vitu:
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 Bali-Vitu of Papua New Guinea

Claiming to be wise, they became fools.
readRomans 1:22

Ask God to pour out His mercy and bring those who are walking in their own wisdom to faith in Jesus.

Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
readIsaiah 43:19

Pray that the lost will see the new thing God can do in their lives and trust in His plan and purpose for them.

No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God.
readRomans 4:20

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will not waver but will grow strong in their belief, knowing that the Lord rewards those who seek Him.

Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.
read3 John 1:2

Ask God to grant protection and good health — both physical and spiritual — to those He sends cross-culturally to share the gospel.

Bali-Vitu Across Countries (ROP3 - 100851) 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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