The Lamba of Zambia

The Lamba of Zambia, numbering approximately 482,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a Bantu ethnolinguistic people of Zambia's Copperbelt, Central, and North-Western regions whose traditions link them to migrations from the Luba-Lunda world and a historic homeland known as Lambaland. They mostly adhere to Ethnoreligion and Lamba is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Zambia
People Cluster: Bantu, Central-South
Primary Language(s): Lamba (lam)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion
Population: 482,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG015589
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Lamba of Zambia

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

94%
%
Ethnoreligion Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Lamba
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

100%
%
Lamba Speakers

Media Resources in Lamba:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Bible Resources in Lamba:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
1959 Bible Society of Zambia✓✓

1 entry

Or check out the Lamba bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Lamba 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 Lamba:
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 Lamba of Zambia

For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods.
readPsalm 97:9

Pray that those who don't yet know Him will recognize the Lord as the Most High and turn from spiritual darkness to worship Him above all else.

And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed"
readGalatians 3:8

Ask the Lord to fulfill His promise to Abraham that all nations would be blessed by advancing the gospel to every people group who has yet to receive it.

Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.
readPsalm 127:1

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will build their homes in the Lord and raise their children to know and honor Him.

To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law.
read1 Corinthians 9:20

Pray that believers from similar cultures will be compelled by Christ's love to reach people who don't know the gospel, and that those people will receive the good news with joy.

Lamba Across Countries (ROP3 - 105612) 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.

Scroll to Top