Who the Bamar are
The Bamar are the largest people of Myanmar, and Theravada Buddhism is central to Bamar identity and national life. Adoniram Judson completed the first full Burmese Bible in the 1830s after years of suffering, including imprisonment, and his translation is still read today.
Myanmar's church is strong among its minority peoples — the Chin, Kachin and Karen above all — but the Bamar majority remain among the least reached large peoples in Asia. Since the 2021 coup, war and displacement have upended life across the country, and minority believers are among those reaching out to Bamar neighbours in the crisis.
Signs of hope
A Burmese Bible nearly two hundred years old, and minority churches with a heart to reach the Bamar.
The honest difficulty
Buddhist identity is bound to being Bamar, and civil war has made every kind of ministry harder.
What "Unreached" means
There is no indigenous community of believers large enough to reach the rest of the group without outside help — commonly measured as under 2% evangelical.
This describes access to the Gospel, not the worth of a people or the sincerity of anyone's faith.
How to pray for the Bamar
Take one of these for a week rather than all of them for a day.
- Pray for the Bamar people to encounter Jesus.
- Thank God for Judson's Burmese Bible and pray it would be read and believed.
- Pray for Chin, Kachin and Karen believers reaching across ethnic lines.
- Pray for peace in Myanmar.
Where the Bamar live
Each nation profile carries church size, unreached peoples, what is going well, what is hard, and four prayer points.
Questions people ask about the Bamar
Who are the Bamar people?
The Bamar (also called Burmese, Burman) are a people group of roughly 35 million, living mainly in Myanmar. They speak Burmese and are predominantly Buddhism (Theravada). The majority people of Myanmar, with a Burmese Bible nearly two centuries old — and still very few believers. Population figures for people groups vary considerably by source and by how a group is defined.
Are the Bamar an unreached people group?
The Bamar are classified as unreached. There is no indigenous community of believers large enough to reach the rest of the group without outside help — commonly measured as under 2% evangelical. Scripture status: Full Bible in Burmese.
How can I pray for the Bamar?
Pray for the Bamar people to encounter Jesus. Thank God for Judson's Burmese Bible and pray it would be read and believed. Take one of these for a week rather than all of them for a day.