The Ninia Yali of Indonesia

The Ninia Yali of Indonesia, numbering approximately 15,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are described as an ethnolinguistic community of Indonesia They are an Indigenous people, with Yali as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the New Guinea people cluster of the Pacific Islander Peoples. They mostly adhere to Animism and Ninia Yali is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Yali, Ninia

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Pacific Islander Peoples
Country: Indonesia
People Cluster: New Guinea
Primary Language(s): Ninia Yali (nlk)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 15,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG023014
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Ninia Yali 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.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

65%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Ninia Yali
Language Family: Nuclear Trans New Guinea

100%
%
Yali, Ninia Speakers

Media Resources in Ninia Yali:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Bible Resources in Ninia Yali:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Wene Sali Keron✓✓✓

1 entry

Or check out the Ninia Yali bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Ninia Yali 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 Ninia Yali:
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 Ninia Yali of Indonesia

For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods.
readPsalm 97:9

Pray that those who don't yet know Him will recognize the Lord as the Most High and turn from spiritual darkness to worship Him above all else.

Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
readPsalm 34:8

Pray that the gospel will advance and that many will have the opportunity to taste and see the goodness of God and entrust their lives to Him.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
read1 Peter 2:9

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will embrace their identity as God's chosen people, royal priests, and holy nation, living out their faith with purity and devotion.

Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe."
readJohn 6:35-36

Praise God for the things such as bread that He has provided as natural conversation bridges to the gospel. Pray that believers will use any bridges He provides to share the gospel with those who do not yet know the good news.

Yali, Ninia Across Countries (ROP3 - 110947) 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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