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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Western Chams of Vietnam

The Western Chams of Vietnam, numbering approximately 150,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an Austronesian ethnolinguistic group iconcentrated between the Kampong Cham province in Cambodia and An Giang province in southern Vietnam. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Western Cham is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Southeast Asian Peoples
Country: Vietnam
People Cluster: Cham
Primary Language(s): Western Cham (cja)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 150,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG011245
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Pray for the Western Chams of Vietnam

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: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

95%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Western Cham
Language Family: Austronesian

100%
%
Cham, Western Speakers

Media Resources in Western Cham:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Western Cham:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Cham, Western New Testament✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Western Cham bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Western Chams 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 Western Chams:
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

Pray specifically for the Western Chams of Vietnam

Claiming to be wise, they became fools.
readRomans 1:22

Ask God to pour out His mercy and bring those who are walking in their own wisdom to faith in Jesus.

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.
readPsalm 19:1-2

Pray that the lost will see the glory of God revealed in the heavens, that they will hear the good news, and that their hearts will be softened to respond to God’s call, turning to Him in repentance and faith in Jesus Christ for salvation.

And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!"
readMark 7:9

Pray that as men, women, boys, and girls place their faith in Christ, they will let go of any traditions that do not honor Him.

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
readJohn 12:24

Pray that God will raise up men and women who are willing to die to their own desires, bearing much fruit for the kingdom among individuals and in places where His gospel has not been proclaimed.

Cham, Western Across Countries (ROP3 - 110776) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

4 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress Index ▲LanguageReligion
Western ChamsPG020897Western ChamsLaos250Unengaged and UnreachedWestern ChamSunni Islam
Western ChamsPG043652Western ChamsUnited States1,200Unengaged and UnreachedWestern ChamEthnoreligion
Western ChamsPG008199Western ChamsCambodia303,000Engaged yet UnreachedWestern ChamSunni Islam
Western ChamsPG011245Western ChamsVietnam150,000Engaged yet UnreachedWestern ChamSunni Islam

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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