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The Matis of Brazil

The Matis of Brazil, numbering approximately 450 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Panoan people of Brazil's Vale do Javari territory near the Itui and Itacoai rivers, first contacted by Brazilian authorities only in the late 1970s after which disease nearly halved their population, known for facial tattoos and piercings. They mostly adhere to Ethnoreligion and Matís is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: Matis

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Latin American and Caribbean Peoples
Country: Brazil
People Cluster: Amazon
Primary Language(s): Matís (mpq)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion
Population: 450
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG017013
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Pray for the Matis of Brazil

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Ethnoreligion
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

99%
%
Ethnoreligion Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Matís
Language Family: Pano-Tacanan

100%
%
Matís Speakers

Media Resources in Matís:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Matís:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Matís bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Matis 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.

Next steps for the Matis:
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

Pray specifically for the Matis of Brazil

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.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
readRomans 3:23

Pray that the gospel will advance and many will acknowledge that all have sinned, fall short of God's glory, and need a Savior to reconcile them to God.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
read2 Corinthians 5:17

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will understand and experience the truth that in Christ, they are a new creation, and the old has gone and the new has come.

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
readEphesians 1:13-14

Pray that God will work through believers near and far in bringing the lost to Himself, giving them what they need to do the task He has set before them, and helping them rest in Him because He has given them His Spirit.

Matis Across Countries (ROP3 - 114661) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
MatisPG017013MatisBrazil450Engaged yet UnreachedMatísEthnoreligion

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 Data Standards section.

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