The Awyi of Indonesia

The Awyi of Indonesia, numbering approximately 800 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an indigenous borderland people of Keerom and Jayapura whose communities include Awyi-speaking and Sangke-speaking groups. They mostly adhere to Protestantism and Papuan Malay is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2025). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Awyi

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Pacific Islander Peoples
Country: Indonesia
People Cluster: New Guinea
Primary Language(s): Papuan Malay (pmy)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 800
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG022456
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Awyi 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: Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

45%
%
Protestantism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Papuan Malay
Language Family: Austronesian

100%
%
Malay, Papuan Speakers

Media Resources in Papuan Malay:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Bible Resources in Papuan Malay:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Or check out the Papuan Malay bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Awyi 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 Awyi:
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 Awyi of Indonesia

I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other.
readIsaiah 45:5-6

Pray that the lost among them will be delivered from the confusion of false beliefs and come to know the one true God who alone brings light and purpose to their lives.

After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.
readLuke 5:27-28

Prat that God will prepare many hearts to meet Him when He says, “Follow Me!” and that they will respond in faith, leaving everything behind to follow Him.

But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
readIsaiah 53:5

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will find comfort and spiritual healing as they remember the wounds of Christ, who understands their suffering because He also walked through suffering on their behalf.

There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.
readMark 7:15

Pray for Christians to take any opportunity to share the hope of Jesus with lost people here, praying they will be wise like Jesus as they share the truth about what can defile people and what can make them clean.

Awyi Across Countries (ROP3 - 100655) 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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