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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Mende of Liberia

The Mende of Liberia, numbering approximately 48,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as a Mande ethnolinguistic group indigenous to eastern Sierra Leone and limited border areas of Liberia They are an Indigenous people, with Mende as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Mande people cluster of the Sub-Saharan African Peoples. Their primary religion is Folk Islam. They primarily speak Mende (Sierra Leone).

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Mende

Fast Facts*:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Liberia
People Cluster: Mande
Primary Language(s): Mende (Sierra Leone) (men)
Primary Religion(s): Folk Islam
Population: 48,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG013519
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Pray for the Mende of Liberia

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Folk Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

50%
%
Folk Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Mende (Sierra Leone)
Language Family: Mande

100%
%
Mende (Sierra Leone) Speakers

Media Resources in Mende (Sierra Leone):

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Mende (Sierra Leone):

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2002 Bible Society in Sierra Leone✓✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Mende (Sierra Leone) bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Mende are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Next steps for the Mende:
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

Pray specifically for the Mende of Liberia

Only in the LORD, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength; to him shall come and be ashamed all who were incensed against him.
readIsaiah 45:24

Pray that those who are weary and burdened by their own righteousness will find rest in the righteousness that comes through faith in Christ alone.

Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
readIsaiah 43:19

Pray that the lost will see the new thing God can do in their lives and trust in His plan and purpose for them.

This God - his way is perfect; the word of the LORD proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.
readPsalm 18:30

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will have access to His Word and the ability to understand it, so that they can grow in their faith and find refuge in Him.

For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.
read2 Corinthians 1:8-9

Pray that as people hear and believe the gospel, they will be faithful as they walk through trials and will have an opportunity to be a witness to others in this people group of the goodness of God.

Mende Across Countries (ROP3 - 111215) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

3 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
MendePG014291MendeSierra Leone2,895,000No Longer UnreachedMende (Sierra Leone)Sunni Islam
MendePG013519MendeLiberia48,000Engaged yet UnreachedMende (Sierra Leone)Folk Islam
MandePG047283MandeUnited States32,500Unengaged and UnreachedMende (Sierra Leone)Ethnoreligion

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

*Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Data Standards section.

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