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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Sgaw Karen of Thailand

The Sgaw Karen of Thailand, numbering approximately 204,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic subgroup of the Karen, an ethnic group of Sino-Tibetan language-speaking people indigenous to the the Kayin State in southeastern Myanmar . They are an Indigenous people, in the Karen people cluster of the Tibetan / Himalayan Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Ethnoreligion - Animism. They primarily speak Karen, S’gaw.

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: Thailand
People Cluster: Karen
Primary Language(s): Karen, S’gaw (ksw)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion - Animism
Population: 204,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG010917

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Pray for the Sgaw Karen of Thailand

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Ethnoreligion - Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

%
Ethnoreligion - Animism 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

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Next steps for the Sgaw Karen

The Sgaw 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 Sgaw Karen

The Sgaw 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 Sgaw Karen

The Sgaw 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 Sgaw Karen of Thailand

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.
readTitus 3:3

Pray for those who seek worldly pleasures instead of God to flee from sin and choose God’s goodness and lovingkindness by placing their faith in Jesus.

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
readJohn 8:12

Pray that many will come to know Jesus, the light of the world, and have the light of life instead of walking in darkness.

Depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the LORD has heard the sound of my weeping.
readPsalm 6:8

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, God will remind them that He is near and will help them place their hope in Him when others wish to do them harm.

At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ...that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.
readColossians 4:3-4

Ask God to open doors for believers to share the gospel and help them communicate it clearly so that more people will understand the mystery of Christ and turn to follow Him.

Karen, S'gaw reported in the following countries (ROP3):

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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