The Upper Kinabatangan of Malaysia

The Upper Kinabatangan of Malaysia, numbering approximately 12,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic community of Malaysia. They mostly adhere to Protestantism and Upper Kinabatangan is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Malaysia
People Cluster: Borneo-Kalimantan
Primary Language(s): Upper Kinabatangan (dmg)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 12,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG019329
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Upper Kinabatangan of Malaysia

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: Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

33%
%
Protestantism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Upper Kinabatangan
Language Family: Austronesian

70%
%
Kinabatangan, Upper Speakers

Media Resources in Upper Kinabatangan:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Bible Resources in Upper Kinabatangan:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Or check out the Upper Kinabatangan bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Upper Kinabatangan 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 Upper Kinabatangan:
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 Upper Kinabatangan of Malaysia

For who is God, but the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God?
readPsalm 18:31

As people look to their own efforts for hope, pray they will have the opportunity to learn and believe in the Lord, who is the only Rock worthy of their faith.

"Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool."
readIsaiah 1:18

Pray that God will make a way for the gospel to reach many through means they can understand and access, that they will receive the good news with joy, and that they will experience complete forgiveness and cleansing from their sin that Jesus offers through His sacrifice.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
read1 Peter 2:9

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will embrace their identity as God's chosen people, royal priests, and holy nation, living out their faith with purity and devotion.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
readPsalm 23:6

Ask God to raise up believers who will share the hope that, for those who trust in Christ, goodness and love will follow them all the days of their lives, and they will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Kinabatangan, Upper Across Countries (ROP3 - 105013) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

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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