Download the People Group List (16 languages .csv)

Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
Bengali - বাংলা | Chinese (Simplified) - 中文（简体）
Chinese (Traditional) - 中文（繁體) | French - Français
German - Deutsch | Gujarati - ગુજરાતી
Hindi - हिन्दी | Indonesian - Bahasa Indonesia
Korean - 한국어 | Nepali - नेपाली
Portugese - Português | Russian - Русский
Spanish - Espanol | Tagalong / Filipino
Be sure to use the data import function in your favorite app for working with data.
If you'd like to help improve these translations, Contact Us.

PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Waray-Waray of Philippines

The Waray-Waray of Philippines, numbering approximately 3,890,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic community of the Philippines. They are an Indigenous people, in the Filipino, Central people cluster of the Malay Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Christianity - Folk Catholicism. They primarily speak Waray-Waray.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Asian Pacific Rim Peoples
Country: Philippines
People Cluster: Filipino, Central
Primary Language(s): Waray-Waray (war)
Primary Religion(s): Christianity - Folk Catholicism
Population: 3,890,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG007806
View on Joshua Project

Prayer Card
Submit Updates

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.

Pray Now!
Download Prayer Guide

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Christianity - Folk Catholicism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

%

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Waray-Waray
Language Family: Austronesian

%

Media Resources in Waray-Waray:

Films:

No language code (ROL) found for this post.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Waray-Waray:

The filter value is not set for this post.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Waray-Waray bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Next steps for the Waray-Waray

The Waray-Waray 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 Waray-Waray

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.

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 Waray-Waray

The Waray-Waray 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 Waray-Waray of Philippines

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
readJohn 3:18

Pray for those who are living under the burden of their sin to believe in Jesus, the only Son of God, and receive freedom.

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
readPsalm 119:105

Pray that they will receive the Word of God as a lamp to their feet and commit their ways to Him.

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
readPhilippians 3:20-21

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will remember their citizenship is in heaven.

To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel.
readEphesians 6:18b-19

Ask God to give believers He sends to the lost of this people group the boldness and clarity to proclaim the mystery of the gospel in a way that people can understand.

Waray-Waray (ROP3 - 110687) 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.

Scroll to Top