The Jahanka of Gambia

The Jahanka of Gambia, numbering approximately 5,600 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a Manding-speaking ethnic group indigenous to the Senegambia region. They mostly adhere to Folk Islam and Jahanka is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Gambia
People Cluster: Malinke
Primary Language(s): Jahanka (jad)
Primary Religion(s): Folk Islam
Population: 5,600
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG013230
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Jahanka of Gambia

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Folk Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

99%
%
Folk Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Jahanka
Language Family: Mande

100%
%
Jahanka Speakers

Media Resources in Jahanka:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Bible Resources in Jahanka:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Or check out the Jahanka bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity (GSEC: 1), this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Jahanka:
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 Jahanka of Gambia

Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
read1 John 3:8

Pray for those living in darkness to recognize the destructive power of sin and the victory Christ has won over it.

Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness!
readPsalm 150:2

Pray for the gospel to advance among those who are living in darkness. Pray that they will come to know Jesus and praise Him for all that He has done.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
readHebrews 12:1-2

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will remember the testimony of those who went before them, resist sin, and run with perseverance the race set before them, fixing their eyes on Jesus.

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go.
readLuke 10:1

Ask God to raise up, send out, and sustain Christians who can go together to share the good news of Jesus with those who need it.

Jahanka Across Countries (ROP3 - 104152) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

5 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountry ▼PopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
JahankaJahankaSenegal56,500Engaged yet UnreachedJahankaFolk Islam
JahankaJahankaMali2,400Engaged yet UnreachedJahankaSunni Islam
JahankeJahankeGuinea-Bissau12,000Unengaged and UnreachedJahankaFolk Islam
JahankeJahankeGuinea52,000Engaged yet UnreachedJahankaSunni Islam
JahankaJahankaGambia5,600Unengaged and UnreachedJahankaFolk Islam

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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