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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Venda of Zimbabwe

The Venda of Zimbabwe, numbering approximately 119,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are ancestrally linked to the Karanga Shona founders of Zimbabwe's Thulamela kingdom, a hilltop stone capital above the Luvuvhu River flourishing from roughly 1240 to 1700, whose rulers were forebears of the later Venda kingdom across the South African border. They mostly adhere to Animism and Venda is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Zimbabwe
People Cluster: Bantu, Southeastern
Primary Language(s): Venda (ven)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 119,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG015684
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Pray for the Venda of Zimbabwe

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: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

58%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Venda
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

100%
%
Venda Speakers

Media Resources in Venda:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Venda:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Venda bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Venda 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 Venda:
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 Venda of Zimbabwe

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
readJohn 3:17

Pray for those who are living under the burdens of man-made religion to learn about the freedom Jesus offers them and turn to Him in faith.

Moses said, "Please show me your glory." And he said, "I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name 'The LORD.' And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy."
readExodus 33:18-19

Pray that many will come to know the glory of God, which is revealed in Jesus Christ, and that they will rejoice in the mercy He offers them.

"And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you"...And the King will answer them, "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me."
readMatthew 25:38-40

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and serve others in faithfulness to Him, they will know that by serving others, they are serving Jesus, who is present with them.

At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ...that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.
readColossians 4:3-4

Ask God to open doors for believers to share the gospel and help them communicate it clearly so that more people will understand the mystery of Christ and turn to follow Him.

Venda Across Countries (ROP3 - 110546) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
VendaPG015546VendaSouth Africa1,255,000No Longer UnreachedVendaProtestantism
VendaPG015684VendaZimbabwe119,000No Longer UnreachedVendaAnimism

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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