The Tawoyan of Indonesia

The Tawoyan of Indonesia, numbering approximately 37,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a Dayak people of the Central Kalimantan interior in Borneo, part of the Northeast Barito language branch closely related to the neighboring Lawangan, the same broad language family as Madagascar's Malagasy. They mostly adhere to Animism and Tawoyan is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Indonesia
People Cluster: Barito of Kalimantan
Primary Language(s): Tawoyan (twy)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 37,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG022616
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Tawoyan 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: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

85%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Tawoyan
Language Family: Austronesian

100%
%
Tawoyan Speakers

Media Resources in Tawoyan:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Bible Resources in Tawoyan:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Or check out the Tawoyan bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Tawoyan 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 Tawoyan:
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 Tawoyan of Indonesia

The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.
readMatthew 4:16

Pray that those living in darkness and the shadow of death will see a great light and turn to the Lord for salvation.

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
readPsalm 1:1-2

Pray that God will call out many sons and daughters from among them and give them a deep love for His Word.

So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
readRomans 6:11

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will lay down all evil desires, dying to sin and living for Him alone.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
readEphesians 6:12

Ask God to give those He sends to cross cultures the discernment they need to recognize the spiritual battle they are fighting. Pray God will protect their faith as they abide in Him.

Tawoyan Across Countries (ROP3 - 109903) 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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