People group profile · PG011611
The Opuua Shita of Ethiopia
The Opuua Shita of Ethiopia, numbering about 6,900 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a small Koman-speaking people concentrated in a handful of villages along Ethiopia's border with South Sudan, part of a once more widely dispersed group of Koman peoples pushed over the last century and a half into this remote borderland refuge.
They are an indigenous people in the Nilotic people cluster of the Sub-Saharan African Peoples. Their primary religion is Animism, and they primarily speak T'apo.
Fast facts
- Country
- Ethiopia
- Population
- 6,900
- Affinity group
- Sub-Saharan African Peoples
- People cluster
- Nilotic
- Primary language
- T'apo (lgn)
- Primary religion
- Animism
- Strategic Progress Index ?
- Unengaged and Unreached
- Evangelical
- No Known Evangelicals
- GSEC ?
- No Evangelicals, Churches or Resources
- Lostness priority ?
- Frontier Unreached People Group
- Region
- Eastern Africa, Africa
- Location
- Gambela region: Sudan border area, 5 villages. Gambela region: Wanke and Langkwe villages; also in the Akula refugee camps (Bilugu dialect); Gambela region: Mera and Atuch (Atus) (Modin dialect)
Where they live
Gospel status
The Opuua Shita are Unengaged and Unreached, which means fewer than 2% are evangelical Christians, and there has been no reported church planting activity in the past two years. In GSEC terms, there are no evangelical Christians or churches among this people group and there is no access to evangelical print, audio, visual or human resources.
- Congregations exist No
- Church planting in the last two years No Churches Planted
Next steps for the Opuua Shita
- Pray that God would send workers to this people group
- Begin sowing the gospel and seek out people of peace
- Plant the first churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice
Primary religion
Animism · Ethnoreligion
60% adherents
Primary language
T'apo · Koman family
85% speak T'apo
Gospel resources in T'apo
- Bible not available
- JESUS Film not available
- Radio programs not available
- Gospel recordings not available
- Audio resources not available
- Bible stories not available
Find more at the JESUS Film Project, Bible.com and Faith Comes by Hearing.
Pray for the Opuua Shita
- Psalm 27:1. Pray that new believers will be strengthened in the face of persecution, with the Lord as their stronghold.
- Romans 12:4–5. Pray that believers from many cultures will work together as one body so that the church is built up.
- Revelation 7:9. Pray for the day when people from this group stand before the throne with every nation, tribe, people and language.
- John 17:3. Pray that many will come to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he has sent.
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