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The West Ambae of Vanuatu

The West Ambae of Vanuatu, numbering approximately 16,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a Melanesian people of Nduindui village on Vanuatu's Ambae Island, whose ancestors repelled Bougainville's 1768 landing party with stones and arrows, later reshaped by missionaries who banned traditional rank-taking and kava rites. They mostly adhere to Protestantism and West Ambae is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Pacific Islander Peoples
Country: Vanuatu
People Cluster: Vanuatu
Primary Language(s): West Ambae (nnd)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 16,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 5% or Greater but Less than 10% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG018463
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Pray for the West Ambae of Vanuatu

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: Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

—
%
Protestantism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: West Ambae
Language Family: Austronesian

100%
%
Ambae, West Speakers

Media Resources in West Ambae:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in West Ambae:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the West Ambae bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The West Ambae 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 West Ambae:
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 West Ambae of Vanuatu

For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
readPsalm 1:6

As many look for hope in worldly pleasures, pray they will hear and accept salvation through Christ, turn from destruction, and experience joy in the way of righteousness.

Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.’ In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.
readJob 1:20-22

Pray that those who mourn will worship God in the midst of their suffering and loss, recognizing He is the source of all good things and that He is worthy of their praise and trust.

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
readRomans 6:4

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, God will lead those who might hesitate in getting baptized to trust Him as they obey His command, even when obedience is hard.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
readJohn 1:12

Pray that believers will have the opportunity to clearly share the good news with the lost here, so that all people can be invited to trust in Jesus and become children of God.

Ambae, West Across Countries (ROP3 - 100261) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDName ▼CountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
West AmbaePG018463West AmbaeVanuatu16,000No Longer UnreachedWest AmbaeProtestantism

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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