The Lisela of Indonesia

The Lisela of Indonesia, numbering approximately 18,500 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an indigenous people of northern Buru Island in Maluku, closely related to the Buru and sometimes known as the North Buru people. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Lisela is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Indonesia
People Cluster: Maluku-Central
Primary Language(s): Lisela (lcl)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 18,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG022682
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Lisela 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

60%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Lisela
Language Family: Austronesian

75%
%
Lisela Speakers

Media Resources in Lisela:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Bible Resources in Lisela:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Or check out the Lisela bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Lisela 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 Lisela:
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 Lisela of Indonesia

Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!
readPsalm 46:10

Pray that those who do not yet worship Jesus will be still and know that He is God, that He will be exalted among them and in all the earth.

Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?
readRomans 2:4

Pray that, in God's kindness and according to His nature, He will lead many to repentance.

But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
readIsaiah 53:5

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will find comfort and spiritual healing as they remember the wounds of Christ, who understands their suffering because He also walked through suffering on their behalf.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!
readPsalm 51:2

Pray that God will raise up believers to go and share the gospel with those in this people group who need to be washed of their iniquity and cleansed from their sins.

Lisela Across Countries (ROP3 - 105798) 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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