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The Melanesians of United States

The Melanesians of United States, numbering approximately 1,600 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a diverse diaspora from Papua New Guinea whose members in the United States represent the country's many distinct ethnic, tribal, and linguistic communities. They mostly adhere to Protestantism and Tok Pisin is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Pacific Islander Peoples
Country: United States
People Cluster: New Guinea
Primary Language(s): Tok Pisin (tpi)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 1,600
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG046504
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Pray for the Melanesians of United States

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.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

—
%
Protestantism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Tok Pisin
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%
Tok Pisin Speakers

Media Resources in Tok Pisin:

Films:
Title Link
JESUS View Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Tok Pisin:

Bible Name (Translation) Video Audio Text
1989 Bible Society of Papua New Guinea ✓ ✓ ✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Tok Pisin bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Melanesians 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 Melanesians:
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 Melanesians of United States

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
readJohn 3:19

Pray that God will have mercy on those who love the darkness they are walking in and turn from their sin to faith in Christ.

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
readPsalm 16:11

Pray that God will make a way for His path of life to be revealed to many so that they may come into His presence and experience abundant joy and eternal pleasures at His right hand.

Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he uttered.
readPsalm 105:5

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will rejoice as they remember His wonders, miracles, and perfect judgements.

Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, "Behold your God!"
readIsaiah 40:9

Pray for God to send and sustain believers to go and herald the good news to the lost here.

Papua New Guinean Across Countries (ROP3 - 107203) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index

All

4 people groups

Photo People Group ID Name Country Population ▼ Strategic Progress Index Language Religion
Neo-Melanesian Papuans PG010297 Neo-Melanesian Papuans Papua New Guinea 233,000 No Longer Unreached Tok Pisin Protestantism
Papua New Guineans PG008015 Papua New Guineans Australia 24,000 No Longer Unreached Tok Pisin Protestantism
Neo-Melanesian Papuans PG010784 Neo-Melanesian Papuans Solomon Islands 7,900 No Longer Unreached Tok Pisin Protestantism
Melanesians PG046504 Melanesians United States 1,600 No Longer Unreached Tok Pisin Protestantism

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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