The Siau Sangirese of Indonesia

The Siau Sangirese of Indonesia, numbering approximately 82,500 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are described as an Austronesian island people of Indonesia's Sangihe archipelago, migrating through the Philippines and Sulawesi, first exposed to Christianity in 1568 by missionary Mascarenhas, before Dutch rule in 1677 and later Protestant conversion via the Minahasa They are an Indigenous people, with Sangirese as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Minahasa-Sangir of Sulawesi people cluster of the Malay Peoples. They mostly adhere to Protestantism and Sangir is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Indonesia
People Cluster: Minahasa-Sangir of Sulawesi
Primary Language(s): Sangir (sxn)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 82,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 5% or Greater but Less than 10% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG022866
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Pray for the Siau Sangirese of Indonesia

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

—
%
Protestantism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Sangir
Language Family: Austronesian

100%
%
Sangir Speakers

Media Resources in Sangir:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Bible Resources in Sangir:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Today's Sangir Version, 2003✓✓
Today's Siau Version✓
Today's Tagulandang Version✓✓

3 entries

Or check out the Sangir bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Siau Sangirese 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 Siau Sangirese:
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 Siau Sangirese of Indonesia

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
readMatthew 9:36

Pray that those who have no hope and are in need of a Savior will be comforted by the Good Shepherd, who seeks to gather the lost and weary into His care.

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
readRomans 1:19-20

Pray that God will use His creation – the “things that have been made” – to spark a fresh and passionate curiosity among them to draw near to the Maker and that, as they seek Him, He will make a way for them to hear the gospel and receive it with joy.

And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.
readActs 16:15

Pray that God will bring entire families and households to faith in Him and raise up servant-leaders from among them.

And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you.
readLuke 10:6

Pray that, as people come to faith in Christ and want to share it with others, they will be welcomed into homes and received well so that they can share message of hope with many people.

Siau Sangirese Across Countries (ROP3 - 114388) 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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