The Mandailing of Indonesia

The Mandailing of Indonesia, numbering approximately 1,300,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Batak people of southern North Sumatra whose identity developed through close ties with the Mandailing homeland and enduring cultural influences from both Batak and Minangkabau traditions. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Batak Mandailing is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: Mandailing

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Indonesia
People Cluster: Batak-Nias of Sumatra
Primary Language(s): Batak Mandailing (btm)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 1,300,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG022515
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Mandailing 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

95%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Batak Mandailing
Language Family: Austronesian

76%
%
Batak Mandailing Speakers

Media Resources in Batak Mandailing:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Bible Resources in Batak Mandailing:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Or check out the Batak Mandailing bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Mandailing 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 Mandailing:
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 Mandailing of Indonesia

Claiming to be wise, they became fools.
readRomans 1:22

Ask God to pour out His mercy and bring those who are walking in their own wisdom to faith in Jesus.

Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.
readPsalm 96:2

Pray that gospel resources will reach this generation so that they will receive the good news and sing to the LORD, bless His name, and tell of His salvation each day.

In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?
readPsalm 56:10-11

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will trust in the Lord's promises, knowing that He will uphold them with His righteous right hand.

And through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
readColossians 1:20

As believers cross cultures to tell others about Jesus, praise God for allowing them to be a part of His reconciling all things to Himself, asking Him to help them remember their role in His beautiful plan of salvation for others.

Batak Mandailing Across Countries (ROP3 - 101126) 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