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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Esan of Nigeria

The Esan of Nigeria, numbering approximately 732,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic community of Nigeria. They are an Indigenous people, in the Guinean people cluster of the Sub-Saharan African Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Christianity - Protestantism. They primarily speak Esan.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Nigeria
People Cluster: Guinean
Primary Language(s): Esan (ish)
Primary Religion(s): Christianity - Protestantism
Population: 732,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG013774
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Pray for the Esan of Nigeria

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Christianity - Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

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Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Esan
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

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Media Resources in Esan:

Films:

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Bible Resources in Esan:

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Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Esan bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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Next steps for the Esan

The Esan 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 Esan

The Esan 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 Esan

The Esan 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 Esan of Nigeria

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
readMatthew 5:16

Pray that those who are deceived about what brings peace will not settle for any lies they’ve heard about God and will diligently seek Him and be satisfied when they learn the truth about who He is and what He’s done.

All the earth worships you and sings praises to you; they sing praises to your name.
readPsalm 66:4

Pray that the good news of Jesus will advance here and that many will bow down and sing praises to His name.

And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
readRomans 10:15

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will be eager to proclaim the good news of peace, knowing that the Lord has called them to this task.

Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!
readPsalm 34:3

Pray that God will raise up believers who will go to those in this people group who do not yet follow Jesus, and that they will invite many to magnify the Lord with them so that His fame will spread to the ends of the earth.

Esan (ROP3 - 102947) 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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