The Angave of Papua New Guinea

The Angave of Papua New Guinea, numbering approximately 4,900 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as an indigenous ethnic group of Papua New Guinea They are an Indigenous people, with Angave as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the New Guinea people cluster of the Pacific Islander Peoples. Their primary religion is Animism. They primarily speak Ankave.

Photo by Google. (2025). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Angave

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Pacific Islander Peoples
Country: Papua New Guinea
People Cluster: New Guinea
Primary Language(s): Ankave (aak)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 4,900
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG009694
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Pray for the Angave of Papua New Guinea

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: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

60%
%

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Ankave
Language Family: Angan

100%
%

Media Resources in Ankave:

Films:

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Bible Resources in Ankave:

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Or check out the Ankave bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 1), 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.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Expanding Unreached People Group, (LPI: 2), 0.5% to 2% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity (GSEC: 1), this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Angave:
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

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Angave 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 Angave:
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

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Angave 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 Angave:
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 Angave of Papua New Guinea

For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation.
readPsalm 62:1

Pray that those who are troubled and don't know about the God who saves will hear the good news and find rest in the one true God who can offer salvation for their souls.

Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized.
readActs 18:8

Pray that rulers and leaders will access the gospel, respond in faith, and be baptized, uniting with Christ and His Church, and influence others to follow Him.

My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
readJohn 10:29

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will rejoice as they remember that they can never lose their salvation

Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works!
readPsalm 105:2

Pray for God to saturate this place with the gospel and raise up believing men and women from among them to share the good news of Christ with those who have yet to encounter it.

Angave Across Countries (ROP3 - 100349) 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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