Latu in Indonesia

People Name:	Latu
Country:	Indonesia
10/40 Window:	Yes
Population:	3,900
World Population:	3,900
Primary Language:	Latu
Primary Religion:	Islam
Christian Adherents:	4.00 %
Evangelicals:	1.00 %
Scripture:	Unspecified
Online Audio NT:	No
Jesus Film:	No
Audio Recordings:	No
People Cluster:	Maluku-Central
Affinity Bloc:	Malay Peoples
Progress Level:

Introduction / History

The Latu speak the Latu language. They live in Sulawesi Island, usually the Luwu Utara district. Their language is from the same branch as that of the more numerous Buginese people.

What Are Their Lives Like?

Like most other peoples, the Latu have their own cultural ways. They have their own dance and music. Their weaving techniques are not like other peoples.

The Latu people are known to have close-knit communities that honor and revere their land.

What Are Their Beliefs?

The Latu people are Sunni Muslims who believe that the supreme God, Allah, spoke through his prophet, Mohammed, and taught mankind how to live a righteous life through the Koran and the Hadith. To live a righteous life, you must utter the Shahada (a statement of faith), pray five times a day facing Mecca, fast from sunup to sundown during the month of Ramadan, give alms to the poor, and make a pilgrimage to Mecca if you have the means. Muslims are prohibited from drinking alcohol, eating pork, gambling, stealing, slandering, and making idols. They gather for corporate prayer on Friday afternoons at a mosque, their place of worship.

The two main holidays for Sunni Muslims are Eid al Fitr, the breaking of the monthly fast and Eid al Adha, the celebration of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son to Allah.

Sunni religious practices are staid and simple. They believe Allah has pre-determined our fates; they minimize free will.

In most of the Muslim world, common people depend on the spirit world for their daily needs since they regard Allah as too distant. Allah may determine their eternal salvation, but the spirits determine how well they live on a daily basis. For that reason, some Muslims appease spirits using charms and amulets to help them with spiritual forces. More orthodox Muslims consider these practices heretical and un-Islamic.

What Are Their Needs?

In recent decades the Latu people have lost some of their homeland to outsiders. Some feel discriminated against and marginalized.

Prayer Points

Pray for the Lord to bless this community economically and spiritually.

Ask God to raise up Latu people who are more desirous to know the truth than to stay on the broad road.

Ask God to send loving, committed workers to the Latu in the near future.

Pray the Latu would no longer be hidden away from the influence of Christ.

Pray for many of them to make disciples who will make even more disciples.