The Cenka of Benin

The Cenka of Benin, numbering approximately 2,900 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as a Mande-speaking Borgu region people, also called Kyenga or Tyenga, whose farming communities in Benin and Nigeria are shifting from their own language toward Hausa and Dendi, Islam having grown dominant over the past seven decades alongside older animism They are an Indigenous people, with Tyenga (Kyanga) as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Mande people cluster of the Sub-Saharan African Peoples. They mostly adhere to Animism and Kyanga is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Benin
People Cluster: Mande
Primary Language(s): Kyanga (tye)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 2,900
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG012313
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Cenka of Benin

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: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

60%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Kyanga
Language Family: Mande

100%
%
Kyanga Speakers

Media Resources in Kyanga:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Bible Resources in Kyanga:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
SIM Nigeria✓
SIM Nigeria 2017✓✓✓

2 entries

Or check out the Kyanga bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Cenka 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 Cenka:
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 Cenka of Benin

Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?
readJames 2:5

Pray for those living in despair to experience the riches of God's love and the hope of eternal life through faith in Christ.

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
readHebrews 4:12

Pray for God's Word to be accessible to everyone in this people group in a way they will resonate with so that many will engage with it, receive it, and share it with others.

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?
readJames 4:1

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will turn from worldly passions and live in unity with one another.

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.

Tyenga Across Countries (ROP3 - 110343) 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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