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The Sila of Vietnam

The Sila of Vietnam, numbering approximately 700 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a small Tibeto-Burman hill people who migrated into Vietnam's Lai Chau province from Yunnan roughly 150 years ago as just six founding households, still recognized among Vietnam's smallest officially listed ethnic minorities today. They mostly adhere to Animism and Sila is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Tibetan Peoples
Country: Vietnam
People Cluster: Other Tibeto-Burmese
Primary Language(s): Sila (slt)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 700
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): No Evangelicals, Churches or Resources
People Group ID: PG011221
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Pray for the Sila of Vietnam

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

99%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Sila
Language Family: Sino-Tibetan

100%
%
Sila Speakers

Media Resources in Sila:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Sila:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Sila 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: 0), 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): Frontier Unreached People Group, (LPI: 0), < 0.1% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): No Evangelicals, Churches or Resources (GSEC: 0), there are no evangelical Christians or churches among this people group and there is no access to evangelical print, audio, visual or human resources

Next steps for the Sila:
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

Pray specifically for the Sila of Vietnam

The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.
readPsalm 9:9-10

Pray that God will help those who are oppressed and without hope to hear the good news of Jesus and trust in Him, for He has never forsaken those who seek Him.

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
read2 Timothy 4:3-4

Pray that the lost will be open to the truth of the gospel and turn from false teachings and myths to the sound doctrine of Christ in faith.

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
readJohn 14:3

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will have hope in trials because they know that Jesus will one day take them to be with Him forever.

And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.
readMatthew 10:14-15

Pray for God to raise up and send out believers to share the gospel with those in this people group who do not yet follow Christ. Pray that they will be welcomed with open arms so that the people they share with will hear and receive the good news with joy.

Sila Across Countries (ROP3 - 109001) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▲Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
SilaPG011221SilaVietnam700Unengaged and UnreachedSilaAnimism
SilaPG009175SilaLaos3,700Unengaged and UnreachedSilaAnimism

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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