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The Mambai of Timor-Leste

The Mambai of Timor-Leste, numbering approximately 257,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic community of East Timor. They mostly adhere to Roman Catholicism and Mambae is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Timor-Leste
People Cluster: Timor
Primary Language(s): Mambae (mgm)
Primary Religion(s): Roman Catholicism
Population: 257,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG023126
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Pray for the Mambai of Timor-Leste

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.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Roman Catholicism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

97%
%
Roman Catholicism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Mambae
Language Family: Austronesian

100%
%
Mambae Speakers

Media Resources in Mambae:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Mambae:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Mambae bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Mambai 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 Mambai:
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 Mambai of Timor-Leste

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
readIsaiah 53:6

Pray that those who have wandered far from God will be drawn back to Him, recognizing their need for a Savior and finding forgiveness and new life in Christ.

Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength!
readPsalm 96:7

Pray that entire households will come to faith in Jesus and that God will bless their families with faith in Him for generations to come.

I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope.
readPsalm 130:5

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will wait on the Lord and have patience and trust, knowing His ways and His timing are always perfect.

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.

Mambai Across Countries (ROP3 - 106195) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountry ▼PopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
MambaiPG023126MambaiTimor-Leste257,000No Longer UnreachedMambaeRoman Catholicism

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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