People group profile · PG015448
The Kwanyama of Namibia
The Kwanyama of Namibia, numbering about 319,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are the largest of the Ovambo kingdoms, whose ancestors migrated southward from present-day Zambia by the fourteenth century and whose territory was split between Namibia and Angola by an 1890 colonial boundary.
They are an indigenous people in the Bantu, Central-Southwest people cluster of the Sub-Saharan African Peoples. Their primary religion is Ethnoreligion, and they primarily speak Kuanyama.
Fast facts
- Country
- Namibia
- Population
- 319,000
- Affinity group
- Sub-Saharan African Peoples
- People cluster
- Bantu, Central-Southwest
- Primary language
- Kuanyama (kua)
- 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
- Southern Africa, Africa
Where they live
Gospel status
The Kwanyama 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 Kwanyama
- 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
Kuanyama · Atlantic-Congo family
100% speak Kuanyama
Gospel resources in Kuanyama
- Bible available
- JESUS Film available
- Radio programs not available
- Gospel recordings available
- Audio resources available
- Bible stories not available
Films
- JESUS (Kwanyama)
Find more at the JESUS Film Project, Bible.com and Faith Comes by Hearing.
Pray for the Kwanyama
- Ephesians 5:8. Pray that those walking in darkness will turn to the light and live as children of light.
- 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.
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