The Buli of Indonesia

The Buli of Indonesia, numbering approximately 3,400 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a people of the Buli Bay area of Halmahera in North Maluku, belonging to the closely related South Halmahera linguistic and cultural sphere. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Buli (Indonesia) is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Indonesia
People Cluster: Maluku-Northern
Primary Language(s): Buli (Indonesia) (bzq)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 3,400
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG022637
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Buli 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

70%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Buli (Indonesia)
Language Family: Austronesian

76%
%
Buli (Indonesia) Speakers

Media Resources in Buli (Indonesia):

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Bible Resources in Buli (Indonesia):

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Or check out the Buli (Indonesia) bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Buli 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 Buli:
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 Buli of Indonesia

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth.
readPsalm 67:4

Pray that those who are lost in darkness and confusion will come to understand God's ways, submit to His righteous rule, and experience the joy of His salvation.

Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises!
readPsalm 47:6

Pray that believers will have a heart to invite others to trust in Christ alone so that they might sing praises to His name.

You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
readDeuteronomy 6:5

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, and might, as they strive to live lives that honor and glorify Him.

Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.
read3 John 1:2

Ask God to grant protection and good health — both physical and spiritual — to those He sends cross-culturally to share the gospel.

Buli Across Countries (ROP3 - 101726) 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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