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.

Bible Resources in Sila:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Or check out the Sila bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
readJohn 14:6

Pray that those who don't know Jesus will recognize Him as the only way to the Father and follow Him in faith.

The LORD watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
readPsalm 146:9

Pray for God to watch over people, wherever they are, and cause them to meet believers who will share the gospel with them clearly and lovingly.

Turn, O LORD, deliver my life; save me for the sake of your steadfast love.
readPsalm 6:4

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and still struggle with the worries of this life, God will deliver them from worry for the sake of His steadfast love.

And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.
readMark 5:20

Pray that God will bring people who appear beyond hope to faith in Jesus and that they will then go and tell others of the marvelous things He has done.

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

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

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