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
Portugese - Português | Russian - Русский
Spanish - Espanol | Tagalong / Filipino
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Sherpa of India

The Sherpa of India, numbering approximately 63,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Tibetan ethnic group native to the most mountainous regions of Nepal, Tingri County in the Tibet Autonomous Region and the Himalayas and can also be known as Sharpa. They are an Indigenous people, in the Tibetan people cluster of the Tibetan / Himalayan Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Buddhism - Tibetan. They primarily speak Sherpa.

Sherpa in Nepal photo
Photo courtesy of Joshua Project. Photo Source: COMIBAM / Sepal

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: India
People Cluster: Tibetan
Primary Language(s): Sherpa (xsr)
Primary Religion(s): Buddhism - Tibetan
Population: 63,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, Dispersed CP Activity
People Group ID: PG041803
View on Joshua Project

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Pray for the Sherpa of India

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Buddhism - Tibetan
Religious Affiliation: Buddhism

%
Buddhism - Tibetan Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Sherpa
Language Family: Sino-Tibetan

%
Sherpa Speakers

Media Resources in Sherpa:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Sherpa:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Sherpa bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Next steps for the Sherpa

The Sherpa are Unengaged and Unreached, 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.

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

Next steps for the Sherpa

The Sherpa 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.

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

Next steps for the Sherpa

The Sherpa 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.

Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Sherpa of India

Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me! O LORD, be my helper!
readPsalm 30:10

Pray that people in the depths of despair and suffering and living outside of relationship with Christ will cry out to the Lord and find help, peace, and joy in Him.

Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick in it and say to them, "the kingdom of God has come near to you."
readLuke 10:8-9

Pray that the lost will receive messengers of the gospel with joy, turn from their sins, and be healed.

Jesus said, ‘Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.
readMark 10:29-30

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will know that when they make sacrifices to follow Jesus, He is there with them and will bless them abundantly in this life and in the life to come.

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
readJohn 12:24

Pray that God will raise up men and women who are willing to die to their own desires, bearing much fruit for the kingdom among individuals and in places where His gospel has not been proclaimed.

Sherpa (ROP3 - 108938) 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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