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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Sunwar of Nepal

The Sunwar of Nepal, numbering approximately 122,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Kirati tribe of Nepal and some areas of India: West Bengal and Sikkim) and can also be known as Sonowal, Sunuwar, Sonowar, Mukhiya, Sunbar, Sunwari, Kwoico Lo. They are an Indigenous people, in the South Himalayan people cluster of the Tibetan / Himalayan Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Hinduism. They primarily speak Sunwar.

Sunuwar in India photo
Photo courtesy of Joshua Project. Photo Source: Dskoich - Wikimedia Dskoich - Wikimedia Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: Nepal
People Cluster: South Himalayan
Primary Language(s): Sunwar (suz)
Primary Religion(s): Hinduism
Population: 122,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, Concentrated CP Activity
People Group ID: PG006297
View on Joshua Project

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Pray for the Sunwar of Nepal

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Hinduism
Religious Affiliation: Hinduism

%
Hinduism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Sunwar
Language Family: Sino-Tibetan

%
Sunwar Speakers

Media Resources in Sunwar:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Sunwar:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Sunwar bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Next steps for the Sunwar

The Sunwar 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 Sunwar

The Sunwar 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 Sunwar

The Sunwar 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 Sunwar of Nepal

But Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven"
readMatthew 9:14

Pray that those who are spiritually dead will recognize their need for spiritual nourishment and turn to the One who offers true fulfillment.

But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.
readMark 4:20

Pray that those who have never encountered the gospel will have the opportunity to receive it, and that it will fall on good soil and bear much fruit.

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
readColossians 3:2

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will set their minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, as they look to Christ for guidance and strength.

And he said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."
readLuke 10:2

Ask God to send out laborers into His harvest field, raising up believers from around the world to go and proclaim the kingdom of God with those who need to hear it.

Sunuwar (ROP3 - 109614) 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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