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The Western Tarahumara of Mexico

The Western Tarahumara of Mexico, numbering approximately 25,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an Indigenous Rarámuri people of the Sierra Madre Occidental in Chihuahua, Mexico, distinguished by their use of the Western Tarahumara language variety. They mostly adhere to Folk Catholicism and Lowland Tarahumara is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash: Tarahumara, Western

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Latin American and Caribbean Peoples
Country: Mexico
People Cluster: Aztec
Primary Language(s): Lowland Tarahumara (tac)
Primary Religion(s): Folk Catholicism
Population: 25,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG024940
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Pray for the Western Tarahumara of Mexico

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!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Folk Catholicism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

92%
%
Folk Catholicism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Lowland Tarahumara
Language Family: Uto-Aztecan

100%
%
Tarahumara, Western Speakers

Media Resources in Lowland Tarahumara:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Lowland Tarahumara:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2008 The Bible League✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Lowland Tarahumara bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Western Tarahumara 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 Western Tarahumara:
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

Pray specifically for the Western Tarahumara of Mexico

During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
readExodus 2:23-24

As the lost among them labor, groan, and cry out under false religions and sin, pray God will have mercy on them and hear their cries, that He will be their Rescuer from the kingdom of darkness and bring them into the kingdom of light.

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.
readPsalm 19:1-2

Pray that the lost will see the glory of God revealed in the heavens, that they will hear the good news, and that their hearts will be softened to respond to God’s call, turning to Him in repentance and faith in Jesus Christ for salvation.

Sanctify them in the truth, your word is truth.
readJohn 17:17

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will experience freedom from sin as God sanctifies them in the truth of His Word.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
readRomans 6:23

Pray that God will bring people to faith who are excited about the eternal life they have in Christ and will want to cross cultures to share this hope with others.

Tarahumara, Baja Across Countries (ROP3 - 110804) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
Western TarahumaraPG024940Western TarahumaraMexico25,000Engaged yet UnreachedLowland TarahumaraFolk 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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