People group profile · PG011538
The Allaaba of Ethiopia
The Allaaba of Ethiopia, numbering about 383,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Highland East Cushitic people of Ethiopia's Alaba district near Lake Shala, tracing descent from the Arab cleric Abadir of Harar and once part of the medieval Hadiya state, whose ruler clashed with Abyssinian monarch Zara Yaqob in the 1400s.
They are an indigenous people in the Sidama people cluster of the Horn of Africa Peoples. Their primary religion is Sunni Islam, and they primarily speak Alaba-K’abeena.
Fast facts
- Country
- Ethiopia
- Population
- 383,000
- Affinity group
- Northern African and Middle Eastern Peoples
- People cluster
- Sidama
- Primary language
- Alaba-K’abeena (alw)
- Primary religion
- Sunni Islam
- Strategic Progress Index
- Engaged yet Unreached
- Evangelical
- Less than 2%
- GSEC
- Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
- Lostness priority
- Frontier Unreached People Group
- Region
- Eastern Africa, Africa
- Location
- Oromia region: Rift Valley southwest of Lake Shala; Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ region
Where they live
Gospel status
The Allaaba are Engaged yet Unreached, which means fewer than 2% are evangelical Christians, but there are sustained efforts to establish self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. In GSEC terms, this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years.
- Congregations exist Yes
- Church planting in the last two years No Churches Planted
Next steps for the Allaaba
- Continue prayer and fasting for this group
- Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
- Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people
Primary religion
Sunni Islam · Islam
97% adherents
Primary language
Alaba-K’abeena · Afro-Asiatic family
97% speak Alaba-K’abeena
Gospel resources in Alaba-K’abeena
- Bible available, published 2017
- JESUS Film available
- Radio programs not available
- Gospel recordings available
- Audio resources available
- Bible stories not available
Films
Find more at the JESUS Film Project, Bible.com and Faith Comes by Hearing.
Pray for the Allaaba
- Romans 10:14–15. Ask God to send messengers, so that people can hear, believe and call on the name of the Lord.
- Matthew 9:37–38. Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest field.
- 2 Timothy 2:2. Pray for faithful local leaders who will teach others, so that the church multiplies.
- Ephesians 5:8. Pray that those walking in darkness will turn to the light and live as children of light.
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