The Abaknon Sama of Philippines

The Abaknon Sama of Philippines, numbering approximately 33,500 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an indigenous Sama-Bajaw people centered on Capul Island in Northern Samar, whose Inabaknon language distinguishes them from neighboring Visayan-speaking peoples. They mostly adhere to Roman Catholicism and Inabaknon is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Philippines
People Cluster: Filipino, Central
Primary Language(s): Inabaknon (abx)
Primary Religion(s): Roman Catholicism
Population: 33,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG007605
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Abaknon Sama of Philippines

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

64%
%
Roman Catholicism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Inabaknon
Language Family: Austronesian

100%
%
Inabaknon Speakers

Media Resources in Inabaknon:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Bible Resources in Inabaknon:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Or check out the Inabaknon bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Abaknon Sama 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.

Next steps for the Abaknon Sama:
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

Pray specifically for the Abaknon Sama of Philippines

For who is God, but the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God?
readPsalm 18:31

As people look to their own efforts for hope, pray they will have the opportunity to learn and believe in the Lord, who is the only Rock worthy of their faith.

And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
readMatthew 24:14

Pray that the gospel of God's kingdom will reach more people and that they will respond in faith, becoming disciples of Jesus Christ.

Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.
readMatthew 18:19

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they find other believers to pray with, and that they will trust God to answer their requests according to His will.

The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
readActs 17:30

Pray that those God sends to cross cultures will boldly and lovingly declare that God commands all people everywhere to repent.

Abaknon Sama Across Countries (ROP3 - 100006) 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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