Who the Sundanese are
The Sundanese of West Java are among the largest unreached people groups anywhere — around forty million people, with known believers numbering in the low thousands at most. What makes them remarkable is the contrast: Indonesia has roughly twenty-eight million Christians, one of the biggest churches in Asia, and the Sundanese live next door to it.
Sundanese Islam is closely bound to local custom, land and folk tradition, and the community is culturally distinct from the Javanese majority around it. The people best placed to reach them are Indonesian believers who already share the country, the language of state, and the daily texture of life.
Signs of hope
The full Bible exists in Sundanese, and Indonesian believers with the language and standing to cross into West Java are increasingly the ones going.
The honest difficulty
Forty million people with a believing community in the low thousands, and faith woven into local custom and land.
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 Sundanese
Take one of these for a week rather than all of them for a day.
- Pray for the Sundanese — around forty million people, with very few known believers.
- Thank God for the full Bible in Sundanese, and pray it would be read.
- Ask God to send Indonesian believers across the island and ethnic lines.
- Pray for the handful of Sundanese followers of Jesus, and for their families.
Where the Sundanese 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 Sundanese
Who are the Sundanese people?
The Sundanese (also called Sunda, Priangan) are a people group of roughly 40 million, living mainly in Indonesia. They speak Sundanese and are predominantly Islam (Sunni). One of the largest unreached peoples in the world sits inside a nation with a very large church. Population figures for people groups vary considerably by source and by how a group is defined.
Are the Sundanese an unreached people group?
The Sundanese 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 Sundanese.
How can I pray for the Sundanese?
Pray for the Sundanese — around forty million people, with very few known believers. Thank God for the full Bible in Sundanese, and pray it would be read. Take one of these for a week rather than all of them for a day.