Download the People Group List (16 languages .csv)

Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
Bengali - বাংলা | Chinese (Simplified) - 中文（简体）
Chinese (Traditional) - 中文（繁體) | French - Français
German - Deutsch | Gujarati - ગુજરાતી
Hindi - हिन्दी | Indonesian - Bahasa Indonesia
Korean - 한국어 | Nepali - नेपाली
Portuguese - Português | Russian - Русский
Spanish - Español | Tagalog / Filipino
Be sure to use the data import function in your favorite app for working with data.
If you'd like to help improve these translations, Contact Us.

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
View on Joshua Project

Print Profile
Submit Updates

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.

Pray Now!
Download Prayer Guide

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

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
readMatthew 28:16-20

Pray that those who don't yet know Him will encounter the risen Savior and be transformed by the power of His resurrection, becoming disciples who make disciples.

...And that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
readLuke 24:47

Pray that the message of repentance and forgiveness through Jesus will reach everyone.

More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
readRomans 5:11

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will rejoice in what God has done for them and will help others know how they can also be reconciled to God.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
read1 John 1:5

Pray that God will raise up believers who can share the gospel with people who don't know the good news of Jesus, that God is light and in him, there is no darkness at all.

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

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress Index ▼LanguageReligion
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.

Scroll to Top