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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Tombelala of Indonesia

The Tombelala of Indonesia, numbering approximately 1,600 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic community of Indonesia. They are an Indigenous people in the Kaili-Tomini of Sulawesi people cluster of the Malay Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary language is Tombelala and their primary religion is Sunni Islam.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Indonesia
People Cluster: Kaili-Tomini of Sulawesi
Primary Language(s): Tombelala (ttp)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 1,600
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG022880
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Pray for the Tombelala of Indonesia

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

99%
%

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Tombelala
Language Family: Austronesian

76%
%

Media Resources in Tombelala:

Films:

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Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Tombelala:

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Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Tombelala bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 1), 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.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Frontier Unreached People Group, (LPI: 0), < 0.1% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity (GSEC: 1), this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Tombelala:
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

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Tombelala 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.

Next steps for the Tombelala:
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

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Tombelala 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 Tombelala:
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 Tombelala of Indonesia

For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the LORD made the heavens.
read1 Chronicles 16:26

Pray that those among them who are lost and seeking after worthless idols will have the opportunity to hear and respond to the good news, seeing that Jesus is better than any idol.

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
readMatthew 6:10

Pray that God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven, and that people will seek His kingdom and righteousness above all else, trusting in His provision.

But my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.
readHebrews 10:38

Pray that as people trust in Christ, they will live by faith and not shrink back from their hope in Christ.

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
readJohn 12:24

Pray that God will raise up men and women who are willing to die to their own desires, bearing much fruit for the kingdom among individuals and in places where His gospel has not been proclaimed.

Tombelala Across Countries (ROP3 - 110146) reported in the following countries:

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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