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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Tzeltal of Mexico

The Tzeltal of Mexico, numbering approximately 859,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a Maya people indigenous to the highlands of chiapas in Mexico. They mostly adhere to Folk Catholicism and Tzeltal is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Latin American and Caribbean Peoples
Country: Mexico
People Cluster: Maya
Primary Language(s): Tzeltal (tzh)
Primary Religion(s): Folk Catholicism
Population: 859,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG039165
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Pray for the Tzeltal 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

51%
%
Folk Catholicism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Tzeltal
Language Family: Mayan

91%
%
Tzeltal Speakers

Media Resources in Tzeltal:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film

3 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Tzeltal:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2006 Bible Society of Mexico✓
2001 Bible Society of Mexico✓

2 entries

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Tzeltal bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Tzeltal 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 Tzeltal:
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 Tzeltal of Mexico

All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.
readRomans 3:12

Pray that those who are enslaved to sin will admit their need for a Savior, acknowledging that no one is righteous.

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
readRomans 10:14

Pray that the gospel will advance among those who don’t know the good news of salvation in Jesus so that they might believe and trust in Jesus.

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?
readJames 4:1

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will turn from worldly passions and live in unity with one another.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
read2 Corinthians 5:20

Pray that those God sends to cross cultures will be His ambassadors, faithfully imploring people on Christ's behalf to be reconciled to God through Jesus.

Tzeltal Across Countries (ROP3 - 103775) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDName ▼CountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
TzeltalPG039165TzeltalMexico859,000No Longer UnreachedTzeltalFolk Catholicism
TzeltalPG049313TzeltalUnited States86,000No Longer UnreachedTzeltalRoman 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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