Who the Central Thai are
Protestant missionaries have worked in Thailand since the 1820s. The country was never colonised, has never been closed to the Gospel, and has had the full Bible in Thai for generations. The Central Thai — the majority people — remain one of the largest Buddhist unreached groups in the world.
To be Thai has long been understood to include being Buddhist; the two identities are woven together in a way that makes conversion feel like a change of nationality. Most church growth in Thailand has come among the tribal peoples of the north rather than among the Central Thai, and thousands of villages still have no church and no believer.
Signs of hope
A slowly rising number of Thai-led urban congregations, and the full Bible long available in Thai.
The honest difficulty
National identity fused with Buddhism, and thousands of villages and hundreds of districts with no believer of any kind.
What "Frontier" means
Fewer than 1 in 1,000 follow Jesus, and there is no indigenous movement large enough to grow on its own. Most people in this group will never meet a Christian.
This describes access to the Gospel, not the worth of a people or the sincerity of anyone's faith.
How to pray for the Central Thai
Take one of these for a week rather than all of them for a day.
- Pray for the Central Thai — a large people almost untouched after two centuries.
- Ask God for Thai believers who can follow Jesus without feeling less Thai.
- Pray for the villages and districts with no church at all.
- Pray for those trapped in Thailand's trafficking and sex industry.
Where the Central Thai 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 Central Thai
Who are the Central Thai people?
The Central Thai (also called Siamese, Thai) are a people group of roughly 25 million, living mainly in Thailand. They speak Thai and are predominantly Theravada Buddhism. Two centuries of missionary work, never colonised, never closed — and still around one percent Christian. Population figures for people groups vary considerably by source and by how a group is defined.
Are the Central Thai an unreached people group?
The Central Thai are classified as frontier. Fewer than 1 in 1,000 follow Jesus, and there is no indigenous movement large enough to grow on its own. Most people in this group will never meet a Christian. Scripture status: Full Bible in Thai.
How can I pray for the Central Thai?
Pray for the Central Thai — a large people almost untouched after two centuries. Ask God for Thai believers who can follow Jesus without feeling less Thai. Take one of these for a week rather than all of them for a day.