The Banyumasan of Indonesia

The Banyumasan of Indonesia, numbering approximately 9,220,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Javanese subgroup of the Serayu River and Dieng Plateau region whose Ngapak dialect predates standard Javanese, which emerged further east in the 1500s, preserving older linguistic features and a more egalitarian character than Java's court dialects. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Javanese is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Indonesia
People Cluster: Jawa
Primary Language(s): Javanese (jav)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 9,220,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, Dispersed CP Activity
People Group ID: PG022426
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Banyumasan of Indonesia

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: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

100%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Javanese
Language Family: Austronesian

100%
%
Javanese Speakers

Media Resources in Javanese:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
JESUSView Film
The SaviorView Film

3 films

Bible Resources in Javanese:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
New Revised Javanese (formal) Version, 2006✓✓✓

1 entry

Or check out the Javanese bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Banyumasan 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 Banyumasan:
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 Banyumasan of Indonesia

For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.
readLuke 19:10

Pray that those who are lost will respond to the One who came to seek and save the lost, and experience the joy of being found.

The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you appointed for them.
readPsalm 104:8

Pray that they will see the hand of God in the beauty and order of the natural world, and that they will worship Him as the Creator and Sustainer of all things.

Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.
readPsalm 127:1

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will build their homes in the Lord and raise their children to know and honor Him.

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.

Java Banyumasan Across Countries (ROP3 - 104218) 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.

Scroll to Top