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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Elseng of Indonesia

The Elseng of Indonesia, numbering approximately 325 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an indigenous people of Papua represented by Koya and Koso communities around Jayapura, with related Elseng-speaking communities extending into Jayapura and Keerom regencies. They mostly adhere to Protestantism and Elseng is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Pacific Islander Peoples
Country: Indonesia
People Cluster: New Guinea
Primary Language(s): Elseng (mrf)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 325
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG023000
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Pray for the Elseng 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.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

74%
%
Protestantism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Elseng
Language Family:

76%
%
Elseng Speakers

Media Resources in Elseng:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Elseng:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Elseng bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Elseng 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 Elseng:
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 Elseng of Indonesia

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.
readTitus 3:3

Pray for those who seek worldly pleasures instead of God to flee from sin and choose God’s goodness and lovingkindness by placing their faith in Jesus.

Then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
readGenesis 2:7

Pray that Christians will be able to share the hope of Christ with suffering people and that He will breathe new life into their souls.

But you said, "I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude."
readGenesis 32:12

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will experience God's presence and protection even in difficult circumstances, knowing that He will make them fruitful.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.
read1 Corinthians 15:3-4

Pray that God will raise up believers to go to the lost and faithfully proclaim the good news of Jesus' death and resurrection so that all may have an opportunity to access and believe.

Tabu Across Countries (ROP3 - 106815) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDName ▼CountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
ElsengPG023000ElsengIndonesia325No Longer UnreachedElsengProtestantism

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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