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The Banda-Mbres of South Sudan

The Banda-Mbres of South Sudan, numbering approximately 9,900 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a Banda subgroup of Ubangian farmers and hunters near the Central African Republic border, organized in patrilineal hamlets under local headmen and traditionally reliant on maize, cassava, and groundnut cultivation. They mostly adhere to Animism and Banda-Mbrès is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Banda-Mbres

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: South Sudan
People Cluster: Adamawa-Ubangi
Primary Language(s): Banda-Mbrès (bqk)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 9,900
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): No Evangelicals, Churches or Resources
People Group ID: PG011976
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Pray for the Banda-Mbres of South Sudan

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.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

50%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Banda-Mbrès
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

50%
%
Banda-Mbrès Speakers

Media Resources in Banda-Mbrès:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Banda-Mbrès:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Banda-Mbrès bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 0), which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Frontier Unreached People Group, (LPI: 0), < 0.1% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): No Evangelicals, Churches or Resources (GSEC: 0), there are no evangelical Christians or churches among this people group and there is no access to evangelical print, audio, visual or human resources

Next steps for the Banda-Mbres:
Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

Pray specifically for the Banda-Mbres of South Sudan

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
readJohn 3:19

Pray that God will have mercy on those who love the darkness they are walking in and turn from their sin to faith in Christ.

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
readRomans 10:14

Pray that the gospel will advance among those who don’t know the good news of salvation in Jesus so that they might believe and trust in Jesus.

For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.
readActs 17:23

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will have a deep desire to know God more fully and to make Him known in creative ways to others who are still searching for truth.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
readEphesians 6:12

Ask God to give those He sends to cross cultures the discernment they need to recognize the spiritual battle they are fighting. Pray God will protect their faith as they abide in Him.

Banda-Mbres Across Countries (ROP3 - 100956) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
Banda MbrePG012898Banda MbreCentral African Republic72,500Engaged yet UnreachedBanda-MbrèsNeo-Pentecostalism
Banda-MbresPG011976Banda-MbresSouth Sudan9,900Unengaged and UnreachedBanda-MbrèsAnimism

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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