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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Bilen of Eritrea

The Bilen of Eritrea, numbering approximately 78,000 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are an ethnic group whose homeland for centuries was the Keren region of Eritrea and the Tigray province of Ethiopia. They are an Indigenous people, in the Agau people cluster of the Horn of Africa Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Islam - Sunni. They primarily speak Bilen.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Northern African and Middle Eastern Peoples
Country: Eritrea
People Cluster: Agau
Primary Language(s): Bilen (byn)
Primary Religion(s): Islam - Sunni
Population: 78,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG011523
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Pray for the Bilen of Eritrea

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Islam - Sunni
Religious Affiliation: Islam

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Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Bilen
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic

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Media Resources in Bilen:

Films:

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Bible Resources in Bilen:

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Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Bilen bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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Next steps for the Bilen

The Bilen are Unengaged and Unreached, 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.

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

Next steps for the Bilen

The Bilen 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.

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

Next steps for the Bilen

The Bilen 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.

Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Bilen of Eritrea

And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior."
readLuke 1:46-47

Pray that those who are lost will recognize their need for a Savior and joyfully embrace the mercy that God offers.

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
readLamentations 3:23-23

Pray that they will have hope in the Lord, knowing that His compassions never fails and that His mercies are new every morning.

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
readPsalm 121:1-2

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and experience hardship, God will remind them that their help comes from the One who made heaven and earth and that He is powerful to meet their needs.

For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.
read2 Corinthians 1:8-9

Pray that as people hear and believe the gospel, they will be faithful as they walk through trials and will have an opportunity to be a witness to others in this people group of the goodness of God.

Bilen (ROP3 - 101444) reported in the following countries:

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 Definitions page.

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