The Ngonde of Malawi

The Ngonde of Malawi, numbering approximately 194,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are described as a Malawian people distinguishing commoner ancestors, remembered as Rift Valley hunters, from chiefly ancestors who arrived ten generations ago with cattle and ironworking, settling the Songwe-Rukuru area under a paramount chief called the Kyungu They are an Indigenous people, with Nyakyusa 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 Nyakyusa-Ngonde.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Malawi
People Cluster: Bantu, Central-Tanzania
Primary Language(s): Nyakyusa-Ngonde (nyy)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion
Population: 194,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG015330
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Ngonde of Malawi

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.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Ethnoreligion
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

85%
%
Ethnoreligion Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Nyakyusa-Ngonde
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

100%
%
Nyakyusa-Ngonde Speakers

Media Resources in Nyakyusa-Ngonde:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
JESUSView Film

2 films

Bible Resources in Nyakyusa-Ngonde:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
1995 Bible Society of Tanzania✓✓

1 entry

Or check out the Nyakyusa-Ngonde bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Ngonde 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 Ngonde:
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 Ngonde of Malawi

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
readRomans 8:1

Pray that God will reassure those who may be struggling with the cost of following Jesus that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

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.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
read1 Peter 2:24

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will remember every day that Jesus' death on the cross brings real healing and restoration to their souls and joyfully share this good news with others.

Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
readIsaiah 43:19

Praise the God who is able to make a way forward, even when it seems impossible. Ask Him to do a new thing among this people group specifically and among the nations, raising up believers to go and share the gospel with individuals and places where it has not flourished before.

Nyakyusa, Ngonde Across Countries (ROP3 - 107530) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

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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