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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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Chinese (Traditional) - 中文（繁體) | French - Français
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Barai of Papua New Guinea

The Barai of Papua New Guinea, numbering approximately 4,300 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an indigenous ethnic group of Papua New Guinea. They are an Indigenous people, in the New Guinea people cluster of the Pacific Islander Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Christianity - Protestantism. They primarily speak Barai.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Asian Pacific Rim Peoples
Country: Papua New Guinea
People Cluster: New Guinea
Primary Language(s): Barai (bbb)
Primary Religion(s): Christianity - Protestantism
Population: 4,300
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 5% or Greater but Less than 10% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG009757
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Pray for the Barai of Papua New Guinea

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Christianity - Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

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Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Barai
Language Family: Koiarian

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Media Resources in Barai:

Films:

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Bible Resources in Barai:

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Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Barai bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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Next steps for the Barai

The Barai 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 Barai

The Barai 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 Barai

The Barai 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 Barai of Papua New Guinea

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.

For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts.
readMalachi 1:11

Pray that they will worship God in spirit and truth, offering Him the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving that He desires.

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
readRomans 6:4

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, God will lead those who might hesitate in getting baptized to trust Him as they obey His command, even when obedience is hard.

Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples!
readPsalm 105:1

Pray that many among them will call on the name of Jesus, develop a heart for the nations, and go to places where the gospel has not yet been received.

Barai (ROP3 - 101036) 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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