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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Western Kanjobal of Guatemala

The Western Kanjobal of Guatemala, numbering approximately 72,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a Mayan people of Guatemala's Huehuetenango Department centered on San Miguel Acatan, whose Akateko language split from the Qanjobalan language group between 1400 and 1500 AD, later disrupted by displacement during the Guatemalan Civil War. They mostly adhere to Folk Catholicism and Western Kanjobal is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Latin American and Caribbean Peoples
Country: Guatemala
People Cluster: Maya
Primary Language(s): Western Kanjobal (knj)
Primary Religion(s): Folk Catholicism
Population: 72,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG024701
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Pray for the Western Kanjobal 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.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Folk Catholicism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

70%
%
Folk Catholicism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Western Kanjobal
Language Family: Mayan

84%
%
Akateko Speakers

Media Resources in Western Kanjobal:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Western Kanjobal:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2001 Wycliffe Bible Translators Inc.✓✓
2016 Asociación Educativa y Cultural Maya✓✓

2 entries

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Western Kanjobal bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Western Kanjobal 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 Western Kanjobal:
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 Western Kanjobal of Guatemala

For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
readRomans 5:10

Pray that any who may be enemies of God will grasp the depth of God's love demonstrated through Christ's death for the ungodly, and be reconciled to Him.

Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!
readPsalm 96:3

Pray for people to hear and believe the good news of Jesus and joyfully share it with their family and friends.

Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the LORD has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted.
readIsaiah 49:13

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and suffer for their faith, they will sing for joy and be glad in their hearts because the Lord has compassion on them.

To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law.
read1 Corinthians 9:20

Pray that believers from similar cultures will be compelled by Christ's love to reach people who don't know the gospel, and that those people will receive the good news with joy.

Kanjobal, Western Across Countries (ROP3 - 110785) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
Western KanjobalPG024701Western KanjobalGuatemala72,000No Longer UnreachedWestern KanjobalFolk Catholicism
KanjobalPG039087KanjobalMexico10,500No Longer UnreachedSpanishFolk 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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