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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Shona of Zambia

The Shona of Zambia, numbering approximately 35,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a Bantu ethnic group native to Southern Africa, primarily living in Zimbabwe where they form the majority of the population. They mostly adhere to African Traditional Religion and Shona is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Zambia
People Cluster: Bantu, Shona
Primary Language(s): Shona (sna)
Primary Religion(s): African Traditional Religion
Population: 35,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG015630
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Pray for the Shona of Zambia

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.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: African Traditional Religion
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

60%
%
African Traditional Relig… Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Shona
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

100%
%
Shona Speakers

Media Resources in Shona:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film

3 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Shona:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Union Shona✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Shona bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Shona 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 Shona:
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 Shona of Zambia

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
readGenesis 3:15

Pray that those without Christ will hear the words of Genesis 1-3 in their own language, and desire to know their Creator and His provision of salvation.

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
readRomans 10:14

Pray that the gospel will advance among those who don’t know the good news of salvation in Jesus so that they might believe and trust in Jesus.

This God - his way is perfect; the word of the LORD proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.
readPsalm 18:30

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will have access to His Word and the ability to understand it, so that they can grow in their faith and find refuge in Him.

The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”
readJohn 1:35-36

Pray for those God sends to cross cultures to share the gospel, that they might faithfully share the good news of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Shona Across Countries (ROP3 - 108959) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

5 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
ShonaPG015673ShonaZimbabwe8,740,000No Longer UnreachedShonaProtestantism
ShonaPG015532ShonaSouth Africa436,000No Longer UnreachedShonaProtestantism
ShonaPG015234ShonaBotswana61,000Engaged yet UnreachedShonaAfrican Traditional Religion
ShonaPG015630ShonaZambia35,000No Longer UnreachedShonaAfrican Traditional Religion
ShonaPG047448ShonaCanada3,000No Longer UnreachedShonaAfrican Traditional Religion

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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