The Sinabu of Malaysia

The Sinabu of Malaysia, numbering approximately 2,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are one of four dialect subgroups of Upper Kinabatangan (dmg), a language of Malaysia. They are an Indigenous people, in the Borneo-Kalimantan people cluster of the Malay Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Christianity - Protestantism. They primarily speak Kinabatangan, Upper.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Asian Pacific Rim Peoples
Country: Malaysia
People Cluster: Borneo-Kalimantan
Primary Language(s): Kinabatangan, Upper (dmg)
Primary Religion(s): Christianity - Protestantism
Population: 2,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG019271
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Sinabu of Malaysia

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Christianity - Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

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Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Kinabatangan, Upper
Language Family: Austronesian

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Media Resources in Kinabatangan, Upper:

Films:

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Bible Resources in Kinabatangan, Upper:

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Or check out the Kinabatangan, Upper bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

Next steps for the Sinabu

The Sinabu 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 Sinabu

The Sinabu 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 Sinabu

The Sinabu 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 Sinabu of Malaysia

These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self- made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
readColossians 2:23

Pray for those without Christ, that they will see the emptiness of human traditions and turn to the truth and grace found in Jesus.

So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them
readMatthew 4:24

Pray that the truth about the Lord will spread throughout the land so that many will have an opportunity to receive the good news and put their faith in Him.

All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you.
readPsalm 22:27

Pray that all families of the nations will worship the Lord in spirit and in truth.

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
read2 Peter 3:9

Pray that those God sends to cross cultures will patiently endure hardships as they share the gospel, knowing that the Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise.

Sinabu (ROP3 - 109021) 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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