The Limba of Sierra Leone

The Limba of Sierra Leone, numbering approximately 530,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as one of the major ethnic groups in Sierra Leone, West Africa. The Limba are considered by many to be the earliest indigenous inhabitants of the region They are an Indigenous people, with Yimba, Limba as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Atlantic people cluster of the Sub-Saharan African Peoples. Their primary religion is Sunni Islam. They primarily speak Limba, West-Central.

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

Fast Facts*:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Sierra Leone
People Cluster: Atlantic
Primary Language(s): Limba, West-Central (lia)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 530,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG014287
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Limba of Sierra Leone

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: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

62%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Limba, West-Central
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

100%
%
Limba, West-Central Speakers

Media Resources in Limba, West-Central:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
JESUSView Film

2 films

Bible Resources in Limba, West-Central:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2009 Bible Society in Sierra Leone

1 entry

Or check out the Limba, West-Central bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Limba 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 Limba:
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 Limba of Sierra Leone

"...And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold." As he said these things, he called out, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
readLuke 8:8

Pray that the seeds of truth will take root in the hearts of those who are far from Jesus and that He will lead them from darkness to light.

And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region.
readActs 13:48-49

Pray that the gospel will spread throughout this whole region and that many will believe and embrace the gift of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
readPhilippians 2:5-7

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will imitate His humility in all they do.

And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven."
readMatthew 16:17

Pray that God who is in heaven will place believers in the lives of people who need to encounter the gospel and that He will reveal to them the truth of what they hear.

Yimba, Limba Across Countries (ROP3 - 111065) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

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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