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The Sanapana of Paraguay

The Sanapana of Paraguay, numbering approximately 1,900 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Maskoy people of the Paraguayan Chaco who call themselves Nenhlet, meaning the people, nomadic hunter-gatherers until the late 1800s who semi-settled at the La Esperanza mission after Mennonite colonists arrived in the 1930s. They mostly adhere to Ethnoreligion and Sanapaná is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Latin American and Caribbean Peoples
Country: Paraguay
People Cluster: South American Indigenous
Primary Language(s): Sanapaná (spn)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion
Population: 1,900
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG017277
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Pray for the Sanapana of Paraguay

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: Ethnoreligion
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

—
%
Ethnoreligion Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Sanapaná
Language Family: Lengua-Mascoy

77%
%
Sanapaná Speakers

Media Resources in Sanapaná:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Sanapaná:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Sanapaná bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Sanapana 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 Sanapana:
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 Sanapana of Paraguay

You visit the earth and water it; you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide their grain, for so you have prepared it.
readPsalm 65:9

Give thanks for God's provision in nature, and pray that those who don't know Him will recognize His hand, desire to know their Creator, and hear the truth that Jesus is the solution to the world's greatest need.

And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
read1 John 4:21

Pray that the good news of God's love will reach everyone in this people group, and that His love will compel them to love others as Christ has loved us.

Jesus said, ‘Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.
readMark 10:29-30

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will know that when they make sacrifices to follow Jesus, He is there with them and will bless them abundantly in this life and in the life to come.

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns”
readIsaiah 52:7

Pray that God will provide open doors for believers who cross cultures to share the good news of salvation with those who need it. Pray that He will give them joy as they see Him move.

Sanapana Across Countries (ROP3 - 108632) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion ▼
SanapanaPG017277SanapanaParaguay1,900Engaged yet UnreachedSanapanáEthnoreligion

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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