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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Wolio of Indonesia

The Wolio of Indonesia, numbering approximately 241,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an Austronesian-speaking ethnolinguistic grup indigenous to Buton Island in Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia . They are an Indigenous people, in the Tukangbesi of Sulawesi people cluster of the Malay Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Islam - Sunni. They primarily speak Wolio.

Photo courtesy of Joshua Project. Photo Source: Copyrighted ©️ 2025 Anonymous Used with permission

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Asian Pacific Peoples
Country: Indonesia
People Cluster: Tukangbesi of Sulawesi
Primary Language(s): Wolio (wlo)
Primary Religion(s): Islam - Sunni
Population: 241,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG022801

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Pray for the Wolio of Indonesia

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Islam - Sunni
Religious Affiliation: Islam

%
Islam - Sunni Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Wolio
Language Family: Austronesian

%
Wolio Speakers

Media Resources in Wolio:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Wolio:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

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Next steps for the Wolio

The Wolio are Unengaged and Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

Next steps for the Wolio

The Wolio are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

Next steps for the Wolio

The Wolio 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.

Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Wolio of Indonesia

Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life"
readJohn 4:13-14

Pray that those who don't know Jesus will drink of the living water that only Christ can provide and never thirst again.

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise).
readEphesians 6:1-2

Pray that God will bring young men and women to faith in Jesus and that the fruit of their faith will be a powerful testimony as they honor their parents. 

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?
read2 Corinthians 6:14

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and want to marry, they will be led to other believers and enter into godly marriages.

At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ...that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.
readColossians 4:3-4

Ask God to open doors for believers to share the gospel and help them communicate it clearly so that more people will understand the mystery of Christ and turn to follow Him.

Wolio reported in the following countries (ROP3):

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 Definitions page.

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