People group profile · PG015418
The Shangaan of Mozambique
The Shangaan of Mozambique, numbering about 4,155,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Tsonga-speaking people whose Shangaan identity emerged when the Zulu general Soshangane conquered the region during the nineteenth-century Mfecane, founding the Gaza Empire that once spanned southern Mozambique and southeastern Zimbabwe.
They are an indigenous people in the Bantu, Central-Southeast people cluster of the Sub-Saharan African Peoples. Their primary religion is Ethnoreligion, and they primarily speak Tsonga.
Fast facts
- Country
- Mozambique
- Population
- 4,155,000
- Affinity group
- Sub-Saharan African Peoples
- People cluster
- Bantu, Central-Southeast
- Primary language
- Tsonga (tso)
- Primary religion
- Ethnoreligion
- 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
Where they live
Gospel status
The Shangaan 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 Shangaan
- 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
Primary language
Tsonga · Atlantic-Congo family
100% speak Tsonga
Gospel resources in Tsonga
- Bible available
- JESUS Film available
- Radio programs available
- Gospel recordings available
- Audio resources available
- Bible stories not available
Bibles
- Sociedade Bíblica de Moçambique, 2014 · video, audio
Find more at the JESUS Film Project, Bible.com and Faith Comes by Hearing.
Pray for the Shangaan
- 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.
Know something we don't? Submit updates to IMB Global Research.