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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Shal of Nigeria

The Shal of Nigeria, numbering approximately 17,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic community of Nigeria. They mostly adhere to Animism and Shall-Zwall is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Nigeria
People Cluster: Benue
Primary Language(s): Shall-Zwall (sha)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 17,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 5% or Greater but Less than 10% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG014103
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Pray for the Shal of Nigeria

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: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

55%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Shall-Zwall
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

100%
%
Shall-Zwall Speakers

Media Resources in Shall-Zwall:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Shall-Zwall:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Shall-Zwall bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Shal 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.

Next steps for the Shal:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Shal of Nigeria

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.

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
readPsalm 16:11

Pray that God will make a way for His path of life to be revealed to many so that they may come into His presence and experience abundant joy and eternal pleasures at His right hand.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
readPhilippians 2:5-7

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will imitate His humility in all they do.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
read1 John 1:5

Pray that God will raise up believers who can share the gospel with people who don't know the good news of Jesus, that God is light and in him, there is no darkness at all.

Shal Across Countries (ROP3 - 108903) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
ShalPG014103ShalNigeria17,000No Longer UnreachedShall-ZwallAnimism

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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