The Gagauzes of Turkiye

The Gagauzes of Turkiye, numbering approximately 17,500 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as a diaspora community of Gagauz in Türkiye They are an Diaspora people, with Gagauz / Gagauzi Turk as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Turkic people cluster of the Turkic Peoples. Their primary religion is Orthodox Christianity. They primarily speak Gagauz.

Photo courtesy of Joshua Project. Photo Source: Maria Karanfil

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Turkic Peoples
Country: Turkiye
People Cluster: Turkic
Primary Language(s): Gagauz (gag)
Primary Religion(s): Orthodox Christianity
Population: 17,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG024594
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Gagauzes of Turkiye

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: Orthodox Christianity
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

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Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Gagauz
Language Family: Turkic

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Media Resources in Gagauz:

Films:

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Bible Resources in Gagauz:

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Or check out the Gagauz bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 1), which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Pioneer Unreached People Group, (LPI: 1), 0.1% to 0.5% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity (GSEC: 1), this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Gagauzes:
Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Gagauzes are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Next steps for the Gagauzes:
Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Gagauzes 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 Gagauzes:
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 Gagauzes of Turkiye

Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the LORD has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted.
readIsaiah 49:13

Thank the Lord for the people here and ask that His gospel will flow through this land to bring hope to those who are afflicted by the guilt of sin.

He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.
readIsaiah 40:11

Pray that the lost will come to know the tender care of the Good Shepherd, who gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart.

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
readRomans 8:38-39

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will have confidence in their salvation, knowing that nothing can separate them from the One who conquered death and loves them as His children.

And he said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."
readLuke 10:2

Ask God to send out laborers into His harvest field, raising up believers from around the world to go and proclaim the kingdom of God with those who need to hear it.

Gagauz Across Countries (ROP3 - 103132) reported in the following countries:

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 Definitions page.

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