The Bana of Cameroon

The Bana of Cameroon, numbering approximately 37,500 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are described as a Mandara Mountains people of Cameroon's Far North region, among the wealthiest farmers of the range, whose ancestors found refuge there from fifteenth-century slave raids driven by the expanding Islamic empires of Borno, Bagirmi, and Wandala They are an Indigenous people, with Fali (Bana) 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 Bana.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Cameroon
People Cluster: Chadic
Primary Language(s): Bana (bcw)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion
Population: 37,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG012530
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Bana of Cameroon

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

88%
%
Ethnoreligion Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Bana
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic

100%
%
Bana Speakers

Media Resources in Bana:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Bible Resources in Bana:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2005 Wycliffe Bible Translators Inc.✓✓✓

1 entry

Or check out the Bana bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Bana are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Next steps for the Bana:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Bana of Cameroon

For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the LORD made the heavens.
readPsalm 96:5

Pray that those who are seeking after worthless idols will not be satisfied until they seek the truth and find it in Christ.

"You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet."
readMatthew 5:13

Pray that the lost will have the opportunity to hear a Christian witness of how the gospel can bring hope and that they will put their faith in Christ.

And he brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be.”
readGenesis 15:5

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will trust God to keep His promises.

Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.
read3 John 1:2

Ask God to grant protection and good health — both physical and spiritual — to those He sends cross-culturally to share the gospel.

Bana Across Countries (ROP3 - 100941) 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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