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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Mbanza of Congo

The Mbanza of Congo, numbering approximately 19,000 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a Banda ethnolinguistic group indigenous to the northwestern corner of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They mostly adhere to Protestantism and Mbandja is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Congo
People Cluster: Sudanic
Primary Language(s): Mbandja (zmz)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 19,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG012988
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Pray for the Mbanza of Congo

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.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

—
%
Protestantism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Mbandja
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

100%
%
Mbandja Speakers

Media Resources in Mbandja:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Mbandja:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
1997 Société Biblique de la République Démocratique du Congo✓✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Mbandja bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 0), 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.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Frontier Unreached People Group, (LPI: 0), < 0.1% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity (GSEC: 1), this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Mbanza:
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

Pray specifically for the Mbanza of Congo

But he said, "What is impossible with man is possible with God."
readLuke 18:27

Praise God that He is the God of impossible things and that He is able to save even those who seem beyond hope.

And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.
readIsaiah 30:21

As the lost in this people group seek to know the truth of who God is, pray that the Spirit of God will draw them to Himself and guide them in the way they should go.

Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.
read1 Peter 3:8

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will live in harmony with one another, showing sympathy, love, compassion, and humility.

And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.
read2 Corinthians 12:28

Ask God to raise up believers who will faithfully proclaim the good news and equip others to do the same.

Mbanza Across Countries (ROP3 - 106463) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

3 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
MbanjaPG014650MbanjaCongo, Democratic Republic of the743,000Unengaged and UnreachedMbandjaRoman Catholicism
MbanzaPG012988MbanzaCongo19,000Unengaged and UnreachedMbandjaProtestantism
MbandzaPG012892MbandzaCentral African Republic2,400No Longer UnreachedMbandjaEthnoreligion

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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