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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

And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
readMatthew 24:14

Pray that the message of hope will reach those who are wandering in darkness, offering them a path to eternal life.

Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth!
readPsalm 96:9

Pray that many who do not yet know Jesus will come to know Him and worship Him in the splendor of His holiness.

I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the LORD sustained me. I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around.
readPsalm 3:5-6

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and experience isolation or other persecution, God will sustain them and give them confidence and rest in Him.

He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.
readJohn 1:7

Pray that God will raise up witnesses to testify about Jesus so that all might believe, knowing that He is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.

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

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguage ▼Religion
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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