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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Lwena of Angola

The Lwena of Angola, numbering approximately 1,030,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as a Bantu ethnic group living mainly in southeastern Angola and northwestern Zambia, with smaller communities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo They are an Indigenous people, with Lwena as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Bantu, Central-South people cluster of the Sub-Saharan African Peoples. Their primary religion is Ethnoreligion. They primarily speak Luvale.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Angola
People Cluster: Bantu, Central-South
Primary Language(s): Luvale (lue)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion
Population: 1,030,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG015185
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Pray for the Lwena of Angola

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.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Ethnoreligion
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

—
%
Ethnoreligion Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Luvale
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

100%
%
Luvale Speakers

Media Resources in Luvale:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Luvale:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Luvale bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Lwena 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 Lwena:
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 Lwena of Angola

While he was coming, the demon threw him to the ground and convulsed him. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.
readLuke 9:42

Pray that those who are living outside of the hope of the gospel will know and trust that Jesus offers freedom from the oppression of sin and hope in eternal life.

And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed"
readGalatians 3:8

Ask the Lord to fulfill His promise to Abraham that all nations would be blessed by advancing the gospel to every people group who has yet to receive it.

Not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
readHebrews 10:25

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will not neglect meeting together but encourage one another as they see the Day approaching.

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
read1 Corinthians 15:10–11

Pray that God's people will preach the message of Jesus' death and resurrection and that it will spread among the lost through the selfless witness of believers.

Lwena Across Countries (ROP3 - 105947) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

3 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
LwenaPG015185LwenaAngola1,030,000Engaged yet UnreachedLuvaleEthnoreligion
LuvalePG015603LuvaleZambia487,000Engaged yet UnreachedLuvaleEthnoreligion
LwenaPG014639LwenaCongo, Democratic Republic of the277,000Engaged yet UnreachedLuvaleRoman Catholicism

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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