The Didinga of South Sudan

The Didinga of South Sudan, numbering approximately 73,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Surmic people of the Didinga Mountains in Eastern Equatoria who trace their sixteenth-century migration from the Lake Turkana or Ethiopian highlands, once forming a single group with the Murle, Tennet, and Boya before a hunting dispute split them apart. They mostly adhere to Animism and Didinga is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: South Sudan
People Cluster: Nilotic
Primary Language(s): Didinga (did)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 73,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG012001
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Didinga 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.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

90%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Didinga
Language Family: Surmic

100%
%
Didinga Speakers

Media Resources in Didinga:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Bible Resources in Didinga:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Wycliffe Bible Translators, Inc✓✓✓

1 entry

Or check out the Didinga bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Didinga 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 Didinga:
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 Didinga of South Sudan

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
readRomans 6:23

Pray that those who do know about God's free gift will hear and believe that the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord and that they will joyfully accept this gift.

...I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
readPsalm 13:5

Ask God to bring many to trust in His unfailing love and cause their hearts to rejoice in His salvation.

Depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the LORD has heard the sound of my weeping.
readPsalm 6:8

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, God will remind them that He is near and will help them place their hope in Him when others wish to do them harm.

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

Praise the God who is able to make a way forward, even when it seems impossible. Ask Him to do a new thing among this people group specifically and among the nations, raising up believers to go and share the gospel with individuals and places where it has not flourished before.

Di'dinga Across Countries (ROP3 - 102599) 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.

Scroll to Top