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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
Bengali - বাংলা | Chinese (Simplified) - 中文（简体）
Chinese (Traditional) - 中文（繁體) | French - Français
German - Deutsch | Gujarati - ગુજરાતી
Hindi - हिन्दी | Indonesian - Bahasa Indonesia
Korean - 한국어 | Nepali - नेपाली
Portugese - Português | Russian - Русский
Spanish - Espanol | Tagalong / Filipino
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Kembayan of Indonesia

The Kembayan of Indonesia, numbering approximately 14,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic community of Indonesia. They are an Indigenous people, in the Borneo-Kalimantan people cluster of the Malay Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Ethnoreligion. They primarily speak Mateq.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Asian Pacific Rim Peoples
Country: Indonesia
People Cluster: Borneo-Kalimantan
Primary Language(s): Mateq (xem)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion
Population: 14,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG022575
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Pray for the Kembayan of Indonesia

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Ethnoreligion
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

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Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Mateq
Language Family: Austronesian

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Media Resources in Mateq:

Films:

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Bible Resources in Mateq:

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Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Mateq bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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Next steps for the Kembayan

The Kembayan 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 Kembayan

The Kembayan 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 Kembayan

The Kembayan 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 Kembayan of Indonesia

You visit the earth and water it; you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide their grain, for so you have prepared it.
readPsalm 65:9

Give thanks for God's provision in nature, and pray that those who don't know Him will recognize His hand, desire to know their Creator, and hear the truth that Jesus is the solution to the world's greatest need.

All the earth worships you and sings praises to you; they sing praises to your name.
readPsalm 66:4

Pray that the good news of Jesus will advance here and that many will bow down and sing praises to His name.

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?
readJames 4:1

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will turn from worldly passions and live in unity with one another.

For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.
read2 Corinthians 1:5

When any who might believe suffer for the sake of the gospel, ask God to deepen their understanding of His grace so that they may share it freely with those who have not received it.

Kembayan (ROP3 - 104820) 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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