The Chavacano of Philippines

The Chavacano of Philippines, numbering approximately 825,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a creole-speaking people associated with Chavacano, Asia's only Spanish-based creole language. Their culture emerged through interaction between Spanish colonial society and indigenous Philippine communities, especially in Zamboanga. They mostly adhere to Roman Catholicism and Chavacano is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash: Chabakano Creole

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Philippines
People Cluster: Filipino, Central
Primary Language(s): Chavacano (cbk)
Primary Religion(s): Roman Catholicism
Population: 825,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG007661
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Pray for the Chavacano 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

69%
%
Roman Catholicism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Chavacano
Language Family: Indo-European

65%
%
Chavacano Speakers

Media Resources in Chavacano:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Bible Resources in Chavacano:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Or check out the Chavacano bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Chavacano 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 Chavacano:
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 Chavacano of Philippines

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
readMatthew 5:6

Pray for those who are lost to desire righteousness and to be filled with the peace and purpose that only comes from following Jesus.

More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
readRomans 5:11

Pray for the gospel to advance and for more people to be brought into God's family through the reconciliation Jesus offers them.

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
readJohn 10:28

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will have assurance of eternal life, knowing that no one can snatch them out of the loving hand of Jesus.

Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, "Behold your God!"
readIsaiah 40:9

Pray for God to send and sustain believers to go and herald the good news to the lost here.

Chabakano Creole Across Countries (ROP3 - 101951) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

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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