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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Mursi of Ethiopia

The Mursi of Ethiopia, numbering approximately 12,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic community of Ethiopia. They are an Indigenous people, in the Nilotic people cluster of the Sub-Saharan African Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Ethnoreligion - Animism. They primarily speak Mursi.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Ethiopia
People Cluster: Nilotic
Primary Language(s): Mursi (muz)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion - Animism
Population: 12,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG011623
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Pray for the Mursi of Ethiopia

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Ethnoreligion - Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

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Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Mursi
Language Family: Surmic

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Media Resources in Mursi:

Films:

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Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Mursi:

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Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Mursi bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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Next steps for the Mursi

The Mursi 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 Mursi

The Mursi 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 Mursi

The Mursi 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 Mursi of Ethiopia

O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.
readPsalm 10:17-18

Pray that God, in accordance with His good character, will give justice to those who are oppressed by sin and that they will know that His offer of salvation is for everyone.

"You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet."
readMatthew 5:13

Pray that the lost will have the opportunity to hear a Christian witness of how the gospel can bring hope and that they will put their faith in Christ.

For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them.
read1 Corinthians 9:19

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will have hearts that want to serve the lost around them so that many might come to faith in Jesus.

He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.
readJohn 1:7

Pray that God will raise up witnesses to testify about Jesus so that all might believe, knowing that He is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.

Mursi (ROP3 - 106929) 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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