The Bari of South Sudan

The Bari of South Sudan, numbering approximately 630,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are described as a Nilotic Karo tribe indigenous to South Sudan and Uganda They are an Indigenous people, with Bari (Nilotic) as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Nilotic people cluster of the Sub-Saharan African Peoples. Their primary religion is Ethnoreligion. They primarily speak Bari.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: South Sudan
People Cluster: Nilotic
Primary Language(s): Bari (bfa)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion
Population: 630,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG014889
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Bari 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: Ethnoreligion
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

60%
%
Ethnoreligion Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Bari
Language Family: Nilotic

100%
%
Bari Speakers

Media Resources in Bari:

Films:

Bible Resources in Bari:

Or check out the Bari bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 2), 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): Minimally Reached People Group, (LPI: 3), 2% to 3% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical (GSEC: 4), this people group is greater than or equal to 2% evangelical

Next steps for the Bari:
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

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Bari 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 Bari:
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

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Bari 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 Bari:
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 Bari of South Sudan

For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
readRomans 5:10

Pray that any who may be enemies of God will grasp the depth of God's love demonstrated through Christ's death for the ungodly, and be reconciled to Him.

And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.
readActs 6:7

Pray that the Word of God will be increasingly available to these people in ways they will resonate with so that all may have a chance to respond to the good news of Jesus Christ.

For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.
readMatthew 18:20

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will be encouraged as they remember that Jesus is with them when they gather in His name.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
read2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Pray that as people hear and believe the gospel, they will serve others in Jesus' name, and the lost will have an opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel.

Bari Across Countries (ROP3 - 101283) reported in the following countries:

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 Definitions page.

Scroll to Top