The Saramaccan of French Guiana

The Saramaccan of French Guiana, numbering approximately 6,300 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a Maroon people descended from Africans who escaped Dutch plantation slavery in Suriname in the 17th-18th centuries and won an 1762 freedom treaty a century before emancipation, roughly 30 percent now living as migrants in French Guiana. They mostly adhere to Ethnoreligion and Saramaccan is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: North American Peoples
Country: French Guiana
People Cluster: Afro-American
Primary Language(s): Saramaccan (srm)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion
Population: 6,300
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG016341
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Saramaccan of French Guiana

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.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Ethnoreligion
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

—
%
Ethnoreligion Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Saramaccan
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%
Saramaccan Speakers

Media Resources in Saramaccan:

Films:
Title Link
JESUS View Film

1 film

Bible Resources in Saramaccan:

Bible Name (Translation) Video Audio Text
1998 Wycliffe Bible Translators, Inc. ✓ ✓

1 entry

Or check out the Saramaccan bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Saramaccan 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 Saramaccan:
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 Saramaccan of French Guiana

"...And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold." As he said these things, he called out, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
readLuke 8:8

Pray that the seeds of truth will take root in the hearts of those who are far from Jesus and that He will lead them from darkness to light.

And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
readMatthew 24:14

Pray that the gospel of God's kingdom will reach more people and that they will respond in faith, becoming disciples of Jesus Christ.

Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed.
readPsalm 34:5

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will see themselves as God sees them, with radiant faces and hearts that have been cleansed of all shame.

And thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation, but as it is written, "Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand."
readRomans 15:20-21

Pray that God will send believers to cross cultures and proclaim the gospel where Christ has not been named, so that the nations might glorify God for His mercy.

Saramaka Across Countries (ROP3 - 108714) 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.

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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