The Wabo of Indonesia

The Wabo of Indonesia, numbering approximately 2,500 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an indigenous Yapen people of Cenderawasih Bay, traditionally centered in Wabo and Wabompi in East Yapen and maintaining a distinctive local performance culture. They mostly adhere to Animism and Wabo is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: Wabo

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Pacific Islander Peoples
Country: Indonesia
People Cluster: New Guinea
Primary Language(s): Wabo (wbb)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 2,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG023077
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Wabo 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

59%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Wabo
Language Family: Austronesian

75%
%
Wabo Speakers

Media Resources in Wabo:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Bible Resources in Wabo:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Or check out the Wabo bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Wabo 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 Wabo:
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 Wabo of Indonesia

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
readEphesians 2:8-9

Pray that the lost among them will receive the gift of salvation by grace through faith, not by works, and be created for good works.

Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness!
readPsalm 150:2

Pray for the gospel to advance among those who are living in darkness. Pray that they will come to know Jesus and praise Him for all that He has done.

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.
readHebrews 10:26

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will live with reverence for God and not deliberately keep sinning after they receive the knowledge of the truth.

Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.
read3 John 1:2

Ask God to grant protection and good health — both physical and spiritual — to those He sends cross-culturally to share the gospel.

Wabo Across Countries (ROP3 - 110600) 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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