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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Bende of Tanzania

The Bende of Tanzania, numbering approximately 67,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as an ethnolinguistic community of Tanzania They are an Indigenous people, with Bende as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Bantu, Central-Tanzania people cluster of the Sub-Saharan African Peoples. Their primary religion is Ethnoreligion. They primarily speak Bende.

Photo by Google. (2025). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Bende

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Tanzania
People Cluster: Bantu, Central-Tanzania
Primary Language(s): Bende (bdp)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion
Population: 67,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG014912
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Pray for the Bende of Tanzania

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Ethnoreligion
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

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%

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Bende
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

100%
%

Media Resources in Bende:

Films:

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Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Bende:

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Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Bende bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 1), 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): Pioneer Unreached People Group, (LPI: 1), 0.1% to 0.5% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity (GSEC: 1), this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Bende:
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 Bende 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 Bende:
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 Bende 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 Bende:
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 Bende of Tanzania

You visit the earth and water it; you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide their grain, for so you have prepared it.
readPsalm 65:9

Give thanks for God's provision in nature, and pray that those who don't know Him will recognize His hand, desire to know their Creator, and hear the truth that Jesus is the solution to the world's greatest need.

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
read2 Timothy 4:3-4

Pray that the lost will be open to the truth of the gospel and turn from false teachings and myths to the sound doctrine of Christ in faith.

Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.
readPsalm 127:1

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will build their homes in the Lord and raise their children to know and honor Him.

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.

Bende Across Countries (ROP3 - 101251) 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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