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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Swahili of Rwanda

The Swahili of Rwanda, numbering approximately 20,500 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a diaspora community of Swahili (Waungwana) in Rwanda They are an Diaspora people, in the Bantu, Swahili people cluster of the Sub-Saharan African Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Islam - Sunni. They primarily speak Swahili.

Coastal Swahili in Kenya photo
Photo courtesy of Joshua Project. Photo Source: Luciano Rizzello - Flickr Luciano Rizzello - Flickr Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Rwanda
People Cluster: Bantu, Swahili
Primary Language(s): Swahili (swh)
Primary Religion(s): Islam - Sunni
Population: 20,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG014886
View on Joshua Project

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Pray for the Swahili of Rwanda

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.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Islam - Sunni
Religious Affiliation: Islam

%
Islam - Sunni Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Swahili
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

%
Swahili Speakers

Media Resources in Swahili:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Swahili:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Swahili bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Next steps for the Swahili

The Swahili 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 Swahili

The Swahili 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 Swahili

The Swahili 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 Swahili of Rwanda

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
readMatthew 11:28

Pray for those who are tired, weary, and burdened by the weight of sin to encounter Jesus and experience the rest that only He can give.

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise).
readEphesians 6:1-2

Pray that God will bring young men and women to faith in Jesus and that the fruit of their faith will be a powerful testimony as they honor their parents. 

My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
readJohn 10:29

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will rejoice as they remember that they can never lose their salvation

He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.
readJohn 1:7

Pray that God will raise up witnesses to testify about Jesus so that all might believe, knowing that He is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.

Swahili (ROP3 - 109644) 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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