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

The Waray-Waray of Philippines, numbering approximately 3,920,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic community of the Philippines. They mostly adhere to Folk Catholicism and Waray (Philippines) is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Philippines
People Cluster: Filipino, Central
Primary Language(s): Waray (Philippines) (war)
Primary Religion(s): Folk Catholicism
Population: 3,920,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG007806
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Pray for the Waray-Waray 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: Folk Catholicism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

50%
%
Folk Catholicism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Waray (Philippines)
Language Family: Austronesian

100%
%
Waray-Waray Speakers

Media Resources in Waray (Philippines):

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Waray (Philippines):

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Popular Version✓✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Waray (Philippines) bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Waray-Waray 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 Waray-Waray:
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 Waray-Waray of Philippines

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
readGenesis 3:15

Pray that those without Christ will hear the words of Genesis 1-3 in their own language, and desire to know their Creator and His provision of salvation.

Then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
readGenesis 2:7

Pray that Christians will be able to share the hope of Christ with suffering people and that He will breathe new life into their souls.

Turn, O LORD, deliver my life; save me for the sake of your steadfast love.
readPsalm 6:4

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and still struggle with the worries of this life, God will deliver them from worry for the sake of His steadfast love.

There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.
readMark 7:15

Pray for Christians to take any opportunity to share the hope of Jesus with lost people here, praying they will be wise like Jesus as they share the truth about what can defile people and what can make them clean.

Waray-Waray Across Countries (ROP3 - 110687) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
Waray-WarayPG007806Waray-WarayPhilippines3,920,000Engaged yet UnreachedWaray (Philippines)Folk 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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