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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
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Portuguese - Português | Russian - Русский
Spanish - Español | Tagalog / Filipino
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The Kau of Indonesia

The Kau of Indonesia, numbering approximately 550 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an Indigenous people of North Halmahera's northern coast in North Maluku whose traditional Kao language is Papuan but has been strongly influenced by neighboring Austronesian languages. They mostly adhere to Animism and Indonesian is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Indonesia
People Cluster: Maluku-Northern
Primary Language(s): Indonesian (ind)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 550
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG022669
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Pray for the Kau 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.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

52%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Indonesian
Language Family: Austronesian

90%
%
Indonesian Speakers

Media Resources in Indonesian:

Films:
Title Link
JESUS View Film
JESUS View Film
Magdalena View Film
The Savior View Film

4 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Indonesian:

Bible Name (Translation) Video Audio Text
Indonesian New Translation (formal) Version, 1974 ✓ ✓ ✓
Indonesian New Translation (formal) Version, 1974 ✓ ✓
Plain Indonesian Translation ✓ ✓
Sehari-hari ✓
Shellabear NT Kitab Suci Injil (Terjemahan 1912) ✓ ✓ ✓
Shellabear OT Association for the Restoration of the 1912 Translation ✓ ✓

6 entries

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Indonesian bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Kau 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 Kau:
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 Kau 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.

But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.
readMark 4:20

Pray that those who have never encountered the gospel will have the opportunity to receive it, and that it will fall on good soil and bear much fruit.

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
readJames 1:12

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will be encouraged when they persevere under trial, knowing that when they have stood the test, they will receive the crown of life.

And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.
readMatthew 10:14-15

Pray for God to raise up and send out believers to share the gospel with those in this people group who do not yet follow Christ. Pray that they will be welcomed with open arms so that the people they share with will hear and receive the good news with joy.

Kau Across Countries (ROP3 - 112461) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index

All

1 people group

Photo People Group ID Name Country Population ▲ Strategic Progress Index Language Religion
Kau PG022669 Kau Indonesia 550 No Longer Unreached Indonesian Animism

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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