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 Opao of Papua New Guinea

The Opao of Papua New Guinea, numbering approximately 5,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are described as an indigenous ethnic group of Papua New Guinea They are an Indigenous people, with Opao as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the New Guinea people cluster of the Pacific Islander Peoples. Their primary religion is Protestantism. They primarily speak Opao.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Pacific Islander Peoples
Country: Papua New Guinea
People Cluster: New Guinea
Primary Language(s): Opao (opo)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 5,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG010340
View on Joshua Project

Print Profile
Submit Updates

Pray for the Opao 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.

Pray Now!
Download Prayer Guide

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

42%
%

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Opao
Language Family: Eleman

100%
%

Media Resources in Opao:

Films:

No language code (ROL) found for this post.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Opao:

The filter value is not set for this post.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Opao bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 2), 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): Marginally Reached People Group, (LPI: 4), 3% to 6% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical (GSEC: 4), this people group is greater than or equal to 2% evangelical

Next steps for the Opao:
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 Opao 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 Opao:
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 Opao 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 Opao:
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 Opao of Papua New Guinea

The LORD has heard my plea; the LORD accepts my prayer.
readPsalm 6:9

Pray that lost people will hear the gospel and place their faith in Christ, knowing that He hears their plea and accepts their prayer.

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
read2 Peter 3:9

Pray that the lost will not perish but come to repentance and that God's patience and long-suffering will lead them to salvation.

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
readPsalm 37:4

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will delight themselves in the Lord, trusting Him to give them the desires of their hearts.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.
read1 Corinthians 15:3-4

Pray that God will raise up believers to go to the lost and faithfully proclaim the good news of Jesus' death and resurrection so that all may have an opportunity to access and believe.

Opao Across Countries (ROP3 - 107665) 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