Download the People Group List (16 languages .csv)

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
Korean - 한국어 | Nepali - नेपाली
Portuguese - Português | Russian - Русский
Spanish - Español | Tagalog / Filipino
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The Balantak of Indonesia

The Balantak of Indonesia, numbering approximately 40,500 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an Austronesian people of eastern Central Sulawesi's Banggai Regency in Indonesia, whose name means roughly our stronghold, historically governed by local chiefs within the Ternate Sultanate's trade network before Islam and Christianity spread after 1900. They mostly adhere to Animism and Balantak is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Indonesia
People Cluster: Kaili-Tomini of Sulawesi
Primary Language(s): Balantak (blz)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 40,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG022787
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Pray for the Balantak 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.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

70%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Balantak
Language Family: Austronesian

100%
%
Balantak Speakers

Media Resources in Balantak:

Films:
Title Link
JESUS View Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Balantak:

Bible Name (Translation) Video Audio Text
Formal Balantak version, 2010 ✓ ✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Balantak bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Balantak 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 Balantak:
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 Balantak of Indonesia

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
readJohn 14:6

Pray that those who don't know Jesus will recognize Him as the only way to the Father and follow Him in faith.

Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth!
readPsalm 96:9

Pray that many who do not yet know Jesus will come to know Him and worship Him in the splendor of His holiness.

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples."
readJohn 8:31

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will abide in Christ daily, depending on Him for every need.

He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.
readJohn 1:7

Pray that God will raise up witnesses to testify about Jesus so that all might believe, knowing that He is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.

Balantak Across Countries (ROP3 - 100838) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index

All

1 people group

Photo People Group ID Name Country Population ▲ Strategic Progress Index Language Religion
Balantak PG022787 Balantak Indonesia 40,500 No Longer Unreached Balantak 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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