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The Suri of Ethiopia

The Suri of Ethiopia, numbering approximately 100,000 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a Nilo-Saharan ethnolinguistic group indigenous to the southwestern plains of Ethiopia. They mostly adhere to Animism and Tirmaga-Chai Suri is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Ethiopia
People Cluster: Nilotic
Primary Language(s): Tirmaga-Chai Suri (suq)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 100,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG011647
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Pray for the Suri of Ethiopia

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

80%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Tirmaga-Chai Suri
Language Family: Surmic

100%
%
Suri, Tirmaga-Chai Speakers

Media Resources in Tirmaga-Chai Suri:

Films:
Title Link
JESUS View Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Tirmaga-Chai Suri:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Tirmaga-Chai Suri bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 0), 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.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Frontier Unreached People Group, (LPI: 0), < 0.1% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity (GSEC: 1), this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Suri:
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

Pray specifically for the Suri of Ethiopia

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 17:27

Pray that those who don't yet know Christ will search diligently for God and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.

And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.
readLuke 2:17

Pray that the lost will receive the good news of salvation in God's Son, have hearts eager to share it with others, and that all who hear will respond with wonder and faith!

Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
readRomans 5:2

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will rejoice in the hope of glory and be in awe of God's mercy that gives them access to Him through faith.

And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
readRomans 10:15

Pray that God will call many believers who will obediently go and share the gospel with those who desperately need it.

Suri Across Countries (ROP3 - 109622) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index

All

2 people groups

Photo People Group ID Name Country Population ▼ Strategic Progress Index Language Religion
Suri PG011647 Suri Ethiopia 100,000 Unengaged and Unreached Tirmaga-Chai Suri Animism
Suri PG012144 Suri South Sudan 1,600 Unengaged and Unreached Tirmaga-Chai Suri Sunni Islam

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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