The Baram Kayan of Malaysia

The Baram Kayan of Malaysia, numbering approximately 10,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a subgroup of the Kayan people, an indigenous Dayak group native to Borneo, primarily in Sarawak, Malaysia, and parts of East Kalimantan, Indonesia. They mostly adhere to Roman Catholicism and Baram Kayan is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Baram Kayan

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Malaysia
People Cluster: Borneo-Kalimantan
Primary Language(s): Baram Kayan (kys)
Primary Religion(s): Roman Catholicism
Population: 10,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG009203
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Baram Kayan of Malaysia

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

41%
%
Roman Catholicism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Baram Kayan
Language Family: Austronesian

70%
%
Kayan, Baram Speakers

Media Resources in Baram Kayan:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Bible Resources in Baram Kayan:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Or check out the Baram Kayan bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Baram Kayan 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 Baram Kayan:
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 Baram Kayan of Malaysia

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
readRom 6:23

Pray that those who haven't heard yet will hear and believe that the wages of their sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in Asia."
readRomans 16:5

Pray for houses to be meeting places for Christians and that God will advance the gospel and grow His Church through natural familial and community relationships.

Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
readRomans 5:2

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will rejoice in the hope of glory and be in awe of God's mercy that gives them access to Him through faith.

"Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."
readJohn 7:38

Ask God to raise up believers and sustain them as they cross cultures to share hope with those who need it. Pray that many might come to know Christ and that streams of living water will flow from their hearts so they will never thirst again.

Baram Kayan Across Countries (ROP3 - 101040) 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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