The Motilón-Barí of Venezuela

The Motilón-Barí of Venezuela, numbering approximately 2,000 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic group indigenous to the Catatumbo River basin in Colombia and Venezuela, descendants of the pre-Columbian Tairona culture. They are an Indigenous people, in the Amazon people cluster of the Latin American and Caribbean Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Ethnoreligion. They primarily speak Barí.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Motilon, Bari

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: American Peoples
Country: Venezuela
People Cluster: Amazon
Primary Language(s): Barí (mot)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion
Population: 2,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG016459
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Motilón-Barí of Venezuela

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

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Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Barí
Language Family: Chibchan

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Media Resources in Barí:

Films:

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Bible Resources in Barí:

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Or check out the Barí bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

Next steps for the Motilón-Barí

The Motilón-Barí are Unengaged and Unreached, 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.

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

Next steps for the Motilón-Barí

The Motilón-Barí 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.

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

Next steps for the Motilón-Barí

The Motilón-Barí 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.

Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Motilón-Barí of Venezuela

And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
readExodus 14:22

Pray that the God who split the sea so that the Israelites might pass through would do another great work among these people, softening the hearts of those who remain lost to the good news and saving them from their sins.

Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized.
readActs 18:8

Pray that rulers and leaders will access the gospel, respond in faith, and be baptized, uniting with Christ and His Church, and influence others to follow Him.

My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
readJohn 10:29

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will rejoice as they remember that they can never lose their salvation

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
read2 Corinthians 5:20

Pray that those God sends to cross cultures will be His ambassadors, faithfully imploring people on Christ's behalf to be reconciled to God through Jesus.

Motilone, Bari (ROP3 - 106823) reported in the following countries:

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 Definitions page.

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