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Chinese (Traditional) - 中文（繁體) | French - Français
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The Ambala Sambal of Philippines

The Ambala Sambal of Philippines, numbering approximately 3,600 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an Ayta Negrito people of Zambales and Bataan in the Philippines, among the archipelago's most genetically distinct populations predating Austronesian migration, whose Sambalic speech links them linguistically but not ethnically to the lowland Sambal. They mostly adhere to Animism and Ambala Ayta is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Philippines
People Cluster: Filipino Tribal
Primary Language(s): Ambala Ayta (abc)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 3,600
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 5% or Greater but Less than 10% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG007616
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Pray for the Ambala Sambal 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.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

90%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Ambala Ayta
Language Family: Austronesian

69%
%
Ayta, Ambala Speakers

Media Resources in Ambala Ayta:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Ambala Ayta:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Ambala Ayta bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Ambala Sambal 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 Ambala Sambal:
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 Ambala Sambal of Philippines

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
readMatthew 5:16

Pray that those who are deceived about what brings peace will not settle for any lies they’ve heard about God and will diligently seek Him and be satisfied when they learn the truth about who He is and what He’s done.

For your steadfast love is great to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.
readPsalm 57:10

Pray that God will work, even in the hearts of hard-to-reach people, and that they will rejoice in His steadfast love and faithfulness.

And he brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be.”
readGenesis 15:5

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will trust God to keep His promises.

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.

Sambal, Ambala Across Countries (ROP3 - 100263) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion ▲
Ambala SambalPG007616Ambala SambalPhilippines3,600No Longer UnreachedAmbala AytaAnimism

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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