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 Ambonese of Netherlands

The Ambonese of Netherlands, numbering approximately 51,500 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a community from Ambon Island and nearby islands in the Central Moluccas (Maluku) in eastern Indonesia, a distinct post‑colonial community whose presence in the Netherlands stems directly from the collapse of Dutch rule in Indonesia after World War II. They are an Diaspora people, in the Maluku-Central people cluster of the Malay Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Islam - Sunni. They primarily speak Malay, Ambonese.

Ambonese in Indonesia photo
Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash: Ambonese

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Asian Pacific Rim Peoples
Country: Netherlands
People Cluster: Maluku-Central
Primary Language(s): Malay, Ambonese (abs)
Primary Religion(s): Islam - Sunni
Population: 51,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG000389
View on Joshua Project

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Pray for the Ambonese of Netherlands

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Islam - Sunni
Religious Affiliation: Islam

%
Islam - Sunni Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Malay, Ambonese
Language Family: Austronesian

%
Malay, Ambonese Speakers

Media Resources in Malay, Ambonese:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Malay, Ambonese:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Malay, Ambonese bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Next steps for the Ambonese

The Ambonese 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 Ambonese

The Ambonese 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 Ambonese

The Ambonese 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 Ambonese of Netherlands

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
readEphesians 6:12

Pray for those ensnared by the darkness of this world, that they will recognize the spiritual forces at work and turn to the light of Christ.

...I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
readPsalm 13:5

Ask God to bring many to trust in His unfailing love and cause their hearts to rejoice in His salvation.

Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
readPsalm 51:9

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will have confidence that God has turned His face from their sins and forgiven their iniquities.

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."
readMatthew 9:37-38

Pray that the Lord of the harvest will raise up believers to send out into His harvest field, which is ripe and ready.

Ambonese (ROP3 - 100274) 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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