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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Batak Toba of Indonesia

The Batak Toba of Indonesia, numbering approximately 3,235,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic community of Indonesia (Sumatra), north Sumatra, Samosir Island and east, south, and west of Toba Lake and can also be known as Batak Tapanuli. They are an Indigenous people, in the Batak-Nias of Sumatra people cluster of the Malay Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Christianity - Protestantism. They primarily speak Batak Toba.

Batak Toba in Indonesia photo
Photo courtesy of Joshua Project. Photo Source: Copyrighted ©️ 2025 Maulana Image - Shutterstock Used with permission

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Asian Pacific Peoples
Country: Indonesia
People Cluster: Batak-Nias of Sumatra
Primary Language(s): Batak Toba (bbc)
Primary Religion(s): Christianity - Protestantism
Population: 3,235,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 5% or Greater but Less than 10% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG022486
View on Joshua Project

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Pray for the Batak Toba of Indonesia

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Christianity - Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

%
Christianity - Protestant… Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Batak Toba
Language Family: Austronesian

%
Batak Toba Speakers

Media Resources in Batak Toba:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Batak Toba:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Batak Toba bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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Next steps for the Batak Toba

The Batak Toba 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 Batak Toba

The Batak Toba 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 Batak Toba

The Batak Toba 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 Batak Toba of Indonesia

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
readMatthew 5:6

Pray for those who are lost to desire righteousness and to be filled with the peace and purpose that only comes from following Jesus.

And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region.
readActs 13:48-49

Pray that the gospel will spread throughout this whole region and that many will believe and embrace the gift of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ.

So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
readRomans 6:11

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will lay down all evil desires, dying to sin and living for Him alone.

And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
readRomans 10:15

Pray that God will call many believers who will obediently go and share the gospel with those who desperately need it.

Batak Toba (ROP3 - 101128) 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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