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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The West Nakanai of Papua New Guinea

The West Nakanai of Papua New Guinea, numbering approximately 45,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an indigenous ethnic group of Papua New Guinea and can also be known as Maututu. They are an Indigenous people, in the New Guinea people cluster of the Pacific Islanders affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Christianity - Protestantism. They primarily speak Nakanai.

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Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Asian Pacific Peoples
Country: Papua New Guinea
People Cluster: New Guinea
Primary Language(s): Nakanai (nak)
Primary Religion(s): Christianity - Protestantism
Population: 45,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG010620

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Pray for the West Nakanai of Papua New Guinea

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Christianity - Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

%
Christianity - Protestant… Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Nakanai
Language Family: Austronesian

%
Nakanai Speakers

Media Resources in Nakanai:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Nakanai:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Nakanai bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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Next steps for the West Nakanai

The West Nakanai 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 West Nakanai

The West Nakanai 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 West Nakanai

The West Nakanai 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 West Nakanai of Papua New Guinea

All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.
readRomans 3:12

Pray that those who are enslaved to sin will admit their need for a Savior, acknowledging that no one is righteous.

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns."
readIsaiah 52:7

Pray that those who don't know the good news of peace and salvation through Jesus Christ will have an opportunity to receive it. Pray that it will bring hope and healing to their souls.

O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.
readPsalm 51:15

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will abide in Him, and God will help them to proclaim His praise and declare His goodness all day long.

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
read1 Corinthians 15:10–11

Pray that God's people will preach the message of Jesus' death and resurrection and that it will spread among the lost through the selfless witness of believers.

West Nakanai 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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