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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Northern Tlapanec of Mexico

The Northern Tlapanec of Mexico, numbering approximately 182,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an indigenous community of Mexico. They are an Indigenous people, in the Central American Indigenous people cluster of the Latin-Caribbean Americans affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Christianity - Folk Catholicism. They primarily speak Me’phaa, Acatepec.

Photo by Google. (2025). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Northern Tlapanec

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: American Peoples
Country: Mexico
People Cluster: Central American Indigenous
Primary Language(s): Me’phaa, Acatepec (tpx)
Primary Religion(s): Christianity - Folk Catholicism
Population: 182,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG046980

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Pray for the Northern Tlapanec of Mexico

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Christianity - Folk Catholicism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

%
Christianity - Folk Catho… Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Me’phaa, Acatepec
Language Family: Otomanguean

%
Me’phaa, Acatepec Speakers

Media Resources in Me’phaa, Acatepec:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Me’phaa, Acatepec:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Me’phaa, Acatepec bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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Next steps for the Northern Tlapanec

The Northern Tlapanec 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 Northern Tlapanec

The Northern Tlapanec 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 Northern Tlapanec

The Northern Tlapanec 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 Northern Tlapanec of Mexico

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
readJohn 3:14-15

Pray that the lost among them will look to the One lifted up on the cross, believing in Him and receiving eternal life.

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us.
readActs 17:26-27

Pray that the lost will seek God and find Him, for He is not far from each one of us. Pray that they will have opportunities to access the gospel, learn God's purpose for their lives, and believe in Him.

I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord, forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.
readPsalm 89:1

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will declare and record His faithfulness and love to be passed on from generation to generation.

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go.
readLuke 10:1

Ask God to raise up, send out, and sustain Christians who can go together to share the good news of Jesus with those who need it.

Tlapanec, Acatepec (ROP3 - 100034) 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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