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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Alu of Laos

The Alu of Laos, numbering approximately 8,000 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a Tibeto-Burmese ethnolinguistic group indigenous to southwestern China's Yunnan province and can also be known as Lao Soung (Highland). They are an Diaspora people, in the Other Tibeto-Burmese people cluster of the Tibetan / Himalayan Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Ethnoreligion - Chinese Folk Religion. They primarily speak Nisu, Eastern.

Alu in Laos photo
Photo courtesy of Joshua Project. Photo Source: Copyrighted ©️ 2025 Operation China, Asia Harvest Used with permission

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Asian Pacific Peoples
Country: Laos
People Cluster: Other Tibeto-Burmese
Primary Language(s): Nisu, Eastern (nos)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion - Chinese Folk Religion
Population: 8,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG020894

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Ethnoreligion - Chinese Folk Religion
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

%
Ethnoreligion - Chinese F… Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Nisu, Eastern
Language Family: Sino-Tibetan

%
Nisu, Eastern Speakers

Media Resources in Nisu, Eastern:

Films:

No entries found for: Nisu, Eastern(nos). Help build some!

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Nisu, Eastern:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Nisu, Eastern bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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Next steps for the Alu

The Alu 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 Alu

The Alu 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 Alu

The Alu 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 Alu of Laos

For one will scarcely die for a righteous personóthough perhaps for a good person one would dare even to dieóbut God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
readRomans 5:7-8

Pray for the many who don't yet understand the hope of the gospel, and pray that God will reveal to them that while they were in darkness, Christ died for them.

But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.
readMark 4:20

Pray that those who have never encountered the gospel will have the opportunity to receive it, and that it will fall on good soil and bear much fruit.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
readGalatians 3:28

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will be united in Christ across all differences of ethnicity, social status, and gender.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
readPsalm 139:14

Praise God for His creativity and power, and pray that He will raise up men and women from among them who are in awe of all He has done and want to go share the hope of Christ with others.

Alu 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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