The Rakahanga-Manihiki of Cook Islands

The Rakahanga-Manihiki of Cook Islands, numbering approximately 1,900 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic group indigenous to the Cook Islands of Rakahanga and Manihiki. They are an Indigenous people, in the Polynesian people cluster of the Pacific Islander Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Christianity - Protestantism. They primarily speak Rakahanga-Manihiki.

Rakahanga-Manihiki in Cook Islands photo
Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Rakahanga-Manihiki

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Asian Pacific Rim Peoples
Country: Cook Islands
People Cluster: Polynesian
Primary Language(s): Rakahanga-Manihiki (rkh)
Primary Religion(s): Christianity - Protestantism
Population: 1,900
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG008214
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Rakahanga-Manihiki of Cook Islands

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Christianity - Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

%
Christianity - Protestant… Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Rakahanga-Manihiki
Language Family: Austronesian

%
Rakahanga-Manihiki Speakers

Media Resources in Rakahanga-Manihiki:

Films:

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Bible Resources in Rakahanga-Manihiki:

Or check out the Rakahanga-Manihiki bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

Next steps for the Rakahanga-Manihiki

The Rakahanga-Manihiki 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 Rakahanga-Manihiki

The Rakahanga-Manihiki 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 Rakahanga-Manihiki

The Rakahanga-Manihiki 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 Rakahanga-Manihiki of Cook Islands

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
readJohn 14:6

Pray that those who don't know Jesus will recognize Him as the only way to the Father and follow Him in faith.

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.

I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord, forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.
readPsalm 89:1

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will declare and record His faithfulness and love to be passed on from generation to generation.

And Jesus said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men." And immediately they left their nets and followed him.
readMark 1:17-18

Pray that God will raise up believers from this place and/or other cultures nearby to proclaim the gospel to those who desperately need to encounter it.

Rakahanga-Manihiki (ROP3 - 108282) 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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