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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The S'gaw Karen of Myanmar

The S'gaw Karen of Myanmar, numbering approximately 2,000,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic subgroup of the Karen, an ethnic group indigenous to Kayin State in southeastern Myanmar and can also be known as Sgaw Karen, Paganyaw. They are an Indigenous people, in the Karen people cluster of the Tibetan / Himalayan Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Christianity - Protestantism. They primarily speak Karen, S’gaw.

Sgaw Karen in Thailand photo
Photo courtesy of Joshua Project. Photo Source: Takeaway - Wikimedia Takeaway - Wikimedia Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Asian Pacific Peoples
Country: Myanmar
People Cluster: Karen
Primary Language(s): Karen, S’gaw (ksw)
Primary Religion(s): Christianity - Protestantism
Population: 2,000,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG009518

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Pray for the S'gaw Karen of Myanmar

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Christianity - Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

%
Christianity - Protestant… Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Karen, S’gaw
Language Family: Sino-Tibetan

%
Karen, S’gaw Speakers

Media Resources in Karen, S’gaw:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Karen, S’gaw:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Karen, S’gaw bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Next steps for the S'gaw Karen

The S'gaw Karen 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 S'gaw Karen

The S'gaw Karen 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 S'gaw Karen

The S'gaw Karen 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 S'gaw Karen of Myanmar

Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the LORD has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted.
readIsaiah 49:13

Thank the Lord for the people here and ask that His gospel will flow through this land to bring hope to those who are afflicted by the guilt of sin.

Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
readPsalm 2:10-11

Pray for the rulers and authorities here to seek the Lord and serve Him only. Pray that the people they lead will be amazed by the work of God in their lives.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
read1 Peter 2:24

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will remember every day that Jesus' death on the cross brings real healing and restoration to their souls and joyfully share this good news with others.

I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessing.
read1 Corinthians 9:23

Ask God to give believers a deep desire to share the gospel with those who don't know the truth about God's redemption plan, and to provide them with opportunities to do so cross-culturally.

Karen, S'gaw (ROP3 - 108886) 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.

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