Patrick Johnstone, the author of Operation World, listed a 1993 population of 64,000 Bru people in Laos. The identity of the Bru in Laos is confusing. Some sources do not list them in Laos. This may be the result of the Bru being included as part of either the So or Mangkong ethnic groups, but the So live further west, and the Mangkong further north of the Bru location. Neither the Bru or the So were listed in the 1995 Lao census, which suggests their populations were counted under another name. All three groups (Bru, So, Mangkong) speak related Mon-Khmer languages, which is no doubt part of the confusion in identifying them separately. To confuse matters even more, some mission research publications have listed Sapoin as a distinct language in Laos, but it is either a dialect or a place name among the Bru.
The name Bru simply means 'mountain people'.
The main location of the Bru in Laos is Xepon District near the Vietnam border in Savannakhet Province. There are more than 40,000 Bru people living in adjoining areas of Vietnam. More than 20,000 Bru also live in Thailand, but they speak a Western Bru language that is distinct from Eastern Bru of Laos and Vietnam. The Bru in Thailand speak the same language as the So in western Laos. The predominant religion among the Bru is ancestor worship. Every house has its own ancestral altar, while each clan shares a communal altar. During religious ceremonies, the Bru place objects "such as bowls, fragments of a cooking pot, a portion of rice, and a container of water before the ancestral altar. These items are believed to be able to nourish the souls of their dead ancestors."42 At least 100 Bru families in Laos profess to be Christians. A further 1,700 Bru people in Vietnam follow Christ. Most of the believers in Laos migrated from Vietnam in 1975 to avoid persecution in Vietnam.
In recent years the Bru have also encountered great persecution from the Lao authorities. In 1998 at least nine Bru church leaders were imprisoned after a government leader, passing through the area, was enraged to find numerous Christians. The Bru area had been declared a "liberated zone."43
Pray the Bru church would stand strong in the face of intense perse-cution from the Lao authorities.
Pray many more Bru would come to Christ in both Laos and Vietnam.
Ask the Holy Spirit to empower the Bru to be witnesses for Him to many unreached people groups in Laos.