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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Purepecha of United States

The Purepecha of United States, numbering approximately 13,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an Amerindian group indigenous to the northwestern region of Michoacán, Mexico and can also be known as Tarascan. They are an Diaspora people, in the Central American Indigenous people cluster of the Latin-Caribbean Americans affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Christianity - Roman Catholicism. They primarily speak Purepecha.

Purepecha in United States photo
Photo courtesy of Joshua Project. Photo Source: Copyrighted ©️ 2025 Kerry Olson Used with permission

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: American Peoples
Country: United States
People Cluster: Central American Indigenous
Primary Language(s): Purepecha (tsz)
Primary Religion(s): Christianity - Roman Catholicism
Population: 13,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG047225
View on Joshua Project

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Pray for the Purepecha of United States

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Christianity - Roman Catholicism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

%
Christianity - Roman Cath… Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Purepecha
Language Family: Tarascan

%
Purepecha Speakers

Media Resources in Purepecha:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Purepecha:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Purepecha bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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Next steps for the Purepecha

The Purepecha 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 Purepecha

The Purepecha 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 Purepecha

The Purepecha 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 Purepecha 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.

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
readPsalm 1:1-2

Pray that God will call out many sons and daughters from among them and give them a deep love for His Word.

Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
readRomans 5:2

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will rejoice in the hope of glory and be in awe of God's mercy that gives them access to Him through faith.

Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!
readPsalm 34:3

Pray that God will raise up believers who will go to those in this people group who do not yet follow Jesus, and that they will invite many to magnify the Lord with them so that His fame will spread to the ends of the earth.

Purepecha (ROP3 - 109855) 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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