The Avukaya of South Sudan

The Avukaya of South Sudan, numbering approximately 60,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Central Sudanic farming people of South Sudan's Equatoria rainforest near the DR Congo border, whose ancestors migrated north across the Dungu River roughly three centuries ago and who historically allied with the Moru against the Azande king Gbudwe. They mostly adhere to Neo-Pentecostalism and Avokaya is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: South Sudan
People Cluster: Sudanic
Primary Language(s): Avokaya (avu)
Primary Religion(s): Neo-Pentecostalism
Population: 60,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG011968
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Avukaya of South Sudan

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: Neo-Pentecostalism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

—
%
Neo-Pentecostalism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Avokaya
Language Family: Central Sudanic

100%
%
Avokaya Speakers

Media Resources in Avokaya:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Bible Resources in Avokaya:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2002 Wycliffe Bible Translators Inc.✓✓

1 entry

Or check out the Avokaya bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Avukaya 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 Avukaya:
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

Pray specifically for the Avukaya of South Sudan

But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
readMatthew 5:44-45

Pray for those who don't know Jesus to encounter believers who are kind and compassionate and that their imitation of Christ will serve as a testimony that attracts lost people to Jesus.

No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
readLuke 13:3

Pray that the lost will repent and believe the gospel, for without it, they will perish.

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
readRomans 10:13

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and sometimes have doubts, God will help them remember and trust the power of Jesus to save them from their sins.

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.

Avukaya Across Countries (ROP3 - 100638) 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.

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