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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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Chinese (Traditional) - 中文（繁體) | French - Français
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Afshari of Afghanistan

The Afshari of Afghanistan, numbering approximately 13,500 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic community of Afghanistan; a dialect subgroup of South Azerbaijani (azb). They are an Diaspora people, in the Azerbaijani people cluster of the Turkic Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Islam - Sunni. They primarily speak Dari.

Afshari in Iran photo
Photo courtesy of Joshua Project. Photo Source: Frontiers

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Central Asian Peoples
Country: Afghanistan
People Cluster: Azerbaijani
Primary Language(s): Dari (prs)
Primary Religion(s): Islam - Sunni
Population: 13,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG023947
View on Joshua Project

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Pray for the Afshari of Afghanistan

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Islam - Sunni
Religious Affiliation: Islam

%
Islam - Sunni Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Dari
Language Family: Indo-European

%
Dari Speakers

Media Resources in Dari:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Dari:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Dari bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Next steps for the Afshari

The Afshari are Unengaged and Unreached, 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.

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

Next steps for the Afshari

The Afshari 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.

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

Next steps for the Afshari

The Afshari 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.

Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Afshari of Afghanistan

Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me! O LORD, be my helper!
readPsalm 30:10

Pray that people in the depths of despair and suffering and living outside of relationship with Christ will cry out to the Lord and find help, peace, and joy in Him.

Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
readPsalm 67:3

Pray that God will be working in people's hearts, give them opportunities to receive the gospel, and bring many to faith in Himself.

He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken.
readIsaiah 25:8

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will rejoice in the hope of the Lord's coming, when He will swallow up death forever and wipe away their tears.

He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
readPsalm 23:3

Pray for believers to go and share the gospel with others here. Ask that God will restore their souls and lead them in paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

Afshari (ROP3 - 100096) 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.

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