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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Pontic Greeks of Turkiye

The Pontic Greeks of Turkiye, numbering approximately 4,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an indigenous community of Türkiye. They are an Indigenous people, in the Greek people cluster of the Eurasian Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Islam - Sunni. They primarily speak Turkish.

Pontic Greeks in Turkiye photo
Photo courtesy of Joshua Project. Photo Source: Anna Diamantopoulou - Flickr Anna Diamantopoulou - Flickr Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Central Asian Peoples
Country: Turkiye
People Cluster: Greek
Primary Language(s): Turkish (tur)
Primary Religion(s): Islam - Sunni
Population: 4,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG048628
View on Joshua Project

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Pray for the Pontic Greeks of Turkiye

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Islam - Sunni
Religious Affiliation: Islam

%
Islam - Sunni Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Turkish
Language Family: Turkic

%
Turkish Speakers

Media Resources in Turkish:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Turkish:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Turkish bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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Next steps for the Pontic Greeks

The Pontic Greeks 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 Pontic Greeks

The Pontic Greeks 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 Pontic Greeks

The Pontic Greeks 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 Pontic Greeks of Turkiye

You visit the earth and water it; you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide their grain, for so you have prepared it.
readPsalm 65:9

Give thanks for God's provision in nature, and pray that those who don't know Him will recognize His hand, desire to know their Creator, and hear the truth that Jesus is the solution to the world's greatest need.

Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
readMatthew 16:16

Pray that many will see clearly that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and put their trust in Him.

Praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
readActs 2:47

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, God will use their faith and their church community as a testimony to the watching world and grow His Church.

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
read2 Peter 3:9

Pray that those God sends to cross cultures will patiently endure hardships as they share the gospel, knowing that the Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise.

Pontic (ROP3 - 108121) 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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