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

Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the LORD has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted.
readIsaiah 49:13

Thank the Lord for the people here and ask that His gospel will flow through this land to bring hope to those who are afflicted by the guilt of sin.

For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts.
readMalachi 1:11

Pray that they will worship God in spirit and truth, offering Him the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving that He desires.

And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.
read2 Corinthians 12:28

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will grow in the spiritual gifts God has given them and use these gifts to glorify Him and build up the Church.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
readJohn 1:5

Pray that when discouraging days come, those who cross cultures for the sake of the gospel will be comforted as they remember that the light of Christ is stronger than the darkness that surrounds them.

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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