The Tswana of Botswana

The Tswana of Botswana, numbering approximately 2,115,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Sotho-Tswana people of southern Africa descended from Bantu-speaking communities that established chiefdoms across the interior grasslands of present-day South Africa and Botswana. They mostly adhere to Ethnoreligion and Tswana is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Botswana
People Cluster: Bantu, Sotho-Tswana
Primary Language(s): Tswana (tsn)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion
Population: 2,115,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG015264

Pray for the Tswana of Botswana

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: Ethnoreligion
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

50%
%
Ethnoreligion Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Tswana
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

100%
%
Setswana Speakers

Media Resources in Tswana:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Bible Resources in Tswana:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Or check out the Tswana bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Tswana 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 Tswana:
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 Tswana of Botswana

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
readRomans 10:14

Pray that those who haven't heard will hear the Word of Christ and believe in Him, calling upon the name of the Lord to be saved.

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us.
readActs 17:26-27

Pray that the lost will seek God and find Him, for He is not far from each one of us. Pray that they will have opportunities to access the gospel, learn God's purpose for their lives, and believe in Him.

Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.
readEphesians 6:18

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will be alert and persistent in prayer for all believers, offering their requests with thanksgiving.

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
readRomans 12:4-5

Ask God to send believers to people in other cultures and to help them use their gifts in harmony with others so that the body of Christ may be built up.

Tswana Across Countries (ROP3 - 110225) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

4 people groups

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

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