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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Bantawa Rai of Nepal

The Bantawa Rai of Nepal, numbering approximately 482,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a people of Nepal, Bhojpur District, Koshi Zone; western Dhankuta District, Khotang District and can also be known as Bantawa Rai. They are an Indigenous people, in the South Himalayan people cluster of the Tibetan / Himalayan Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Ethnoreligion - Animism. They primarily speak Bantawa.

Bantawa Rai in Nepal photo
Photo courtesy of Joshua Project. Photo Source: ????? ??? - Wikimedia ????? ??? - Wikimedia Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: Nepal
People Cluster: South Himalayan
Primary Language(s): Bantawa (bap)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion - Animism
Population: 482,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, Concentrated CP Activity
People Group ID: PG006174

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Ethnoreligion - Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

%
Ethnoreligion - Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Bantawa
Language Family: Sino-Tibetan

%
Bantawa Speakers

Media Resources in Bantawa:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Bantawa:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Bantawa bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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Next steps for the Bantawa Rai

The Bantawa Rai 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 Bantawa Rai

The Bantawa Rai 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 Bantawa Rai

The Bantawa Rai 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 Bantawa Rai of Nepal

As it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God".
readRomans 3:10-11

Pray that God will have mercy on those living in broken relationship with Him, and that He will bring many to surrender and repentance at the throne of grace.

After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.
readLuke 5:27-28

Prat that God will prepare many hearts to meet Him when He says, “Follow Me!” and that they will respond in faith, leaving everything behind to follow Him.

For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.
readHebrews 10:36

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will patiently endure suffering and hardships and do God's will so that they may receive what He has promised.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
read1 John 1:5

Pray that God will raise up believers who can share the gospel with people who don't know the good news of Jesus, that God is light and in him, there is no darkness at all.

Rai, Bantawa reported in the following countries (ROP3):

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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