The Sarwa of Chad

The Sarwa of Chad, numbering approximately 4,900 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as an ethnolinguistic community of Chad, Chari-Baguirmi region, Loug-Chari Department, Bousso Subprefecture, between Bousso and Miltou, along Chari River They are an Indigenous people, with Sarwa as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Chadic people cluster of the Sub-Saharan African Peoples. Their primary religion is Ethnoreligion. They primarily speak Sarua.

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

Fast Facts*:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Chad
People Cluster: Chadic
Primary Language(s): Sarua (swy)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion
Population: 4,900
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG011450
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Sarwa of Chad

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.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Ethnoreligion
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

75%
%
Ethnoreligion Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Sarua
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic

85%
%
Sarua Speakers

Media Resources in Sarua:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Bible Resources in Sarua:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Or check out the Sarua bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Sarwa 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 Sarwa:
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 Sarwa of Chad

And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
readMatthew 24:14

Pray that the message of hope will reach those who are wandering in darkness, offering them a path to eternal life.

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
readRomans 1:19-20

Pray that God will use His creation – the “things that have been made” – to spark a fresh and passionate curiosity among them to draw near to the Maker and that, as they seek Him, He will make a way for them to hear the gospel and receive it with joy.

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples."
readJohn 8:31

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will abide in Christ daily, depending on Him for every need.

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
read1 Corinthians 15:10–11

Pray that God's people will preach the message of Jesus' death and resurrection and that it will spread among the lost through the selfless witness of believers.

Sarwa Across Countries (ROP3 - 108734) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

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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