The Tabaru of Indonesia

The Tabaru of Indonesia, numbering approximately 22,500 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are described as a small non-Austronesian people of interior West Halmahera in North Maluku, Indonesia, historically subordinate to the larger neighboring Tobelo, farming nutmeg, clove and coconut in the legacy of the Moluccas' spice trade They are an Indigenous people, with Tabaru as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Maluku-Northern people cluster of the Malay Peoples. They mostly adhere to Protestantism and Tabaru is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Tabaru

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Indonesia
People Cluster: Maluku-Northern
Primary Language(s): Tabaru (tby)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 22,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG022716
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Tabaru of Indonesia

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.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

52%
%
Protestantism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Tabaru
Language Family: North Halmahera

100%
%
Tabaru Speakers

Media Resources in Tabaru:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Bible Resources in Tabaru:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Today's Tabaru Version, 2008✓✓✓

1 entry

Or check out the Tabaru bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Tabaru 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.

Next steps for the Tabaru:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Tabaru of Indonesia

Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the LORD has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted.
readIsaiah 49:13

Thank the Lord for the people here and ask that His gospel will flow through this land to bring hope to those who are afflicted by the guilt of sin.

All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations.
readPsalm 22:27-28

Pray that entire families will turn to the Lord in repentance and faith, and that they will worship Him and declare His righteousness to the nations.

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
readActs 2:42

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will devote themselves to God's Word, to fellowship with each other, and to prayer.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
read2 Corinthians 5:20

Pray that those God sends to cross cultures will be His ambassadors, faithfully imploring people on Christ's behalf to be reconciled to God through Jesus.

Tabaru Across Countries (ROP3 - 109670) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

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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