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The Western Lawa of Thailand

The Western Lawa of Thailand, numbering approximately 8,600 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an indigenous Lawa people of the forested mountains of northern Thailand, especially Mae Hong Son and Chiang Mai provinces, whose Western Lawa language is distinct from Eastern Lawa. They mostly adhere to Animism and Western Lawa is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Southeast Asian Peoples
Country: Thailand
People Cluster: Mon-Khmer
Primary Language(s): Western Lawa (lcp)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 8,600
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG010935
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Pray for the Western Lawa of Thailand

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.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

68%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Western Lawa
Language Family: Austroasiatic

100%
%
Lawa, Western Speakers

Media Resources in Western Lawa:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Western Lawa:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Thailand Bible Society Version✓✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Western Lawa bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Western Lawa 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 Western Lawa:
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 Western Lawa of Thailand

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
readEphesians 2:8-9

Pray that the lost among them will receive the gift of salvation by grace through faith, not by works, and be created for good works.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
read1 John 1:5

As mobile phones, radio, and satellite television, and other technologies become more available worldwide, pray for people who are developing digital gospel resources so that others can easily access the gospel.

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
readRomans 8:38-39

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will have confidence in their salvation, knowing that nothing can separate them from the One who conquered death and loves them as His children.

Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.
read3 John 1:2

Ask God to grant protection and good health — both physical and spiritual — to those He sends cross-culturally to share the gospel.

Western Lawa Across Countries (ROP3 - 110791) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
Western LawaPG010935Western LawaThailand8,600No Longer UnreachedWestern LawaAnimism

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 Data Standards section.

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