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The Tulema of Ethiopia

The Tulema of Ethiopia, numbering approximately 10,010,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic community indigenous to the Ethiopian state of Oromia. They mostly adhere to Tewahedo Orthodox Christianity and West Central Oromo is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Horn of Africa Peoples
Country: Ethiopia
People Cluster: Oromo
Primary Language(s): West Central Oromo (gaz)
Primary Religion(s): Tewahedo Orthodox Christianity
Population: 10,010,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG011651
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Pray for the Tulema 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: Tewahedo Orthodox Christianity
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

70%
%
Tewahedo Orthodox Christi… Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: West Central Oromo
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic

100%
%
Oromo, West Central Speakers

Media Resources in West Central Oromo:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film
The SaviorView Film

3 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in West Central Oromo:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
1993 Bible Society of Ethiopia✓✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the West Central Oromo bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Tulema 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 Tulema:
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 Tulema of Ethiopia

For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm!
readPsalm 47:7

Pray for those who live for idols that will never satisfy their hearts, asking that someone will tell them that God is the King of all the earth so that they will turn to Him in repentance and praise.

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise).
readEphesians 6:1-2

Pray that God will bring young men and women to faith in Jesus and that the fruit of their faith will be a powerful testimony as they honor their parents.

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.
read2 Corinthians 9:8

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will trust God in all things, especially in times of persecution.

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
read2 Corinthians 5:21

Pray that Christians will cross cultures and share the hope of Christ, and that many will trust the One who took their sins and offers them His righteousness.

Oromo, Tulama Across Countries (ROP3 - 110261) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

3 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
TulemaPG011651TulemaEthiopia10,010,000Engaged yet UnreachedWest Central OromoTewahedo Orthodox Christianity
TulamaPG011514TulamaEgypt4,400Engaged yet UnreachedWest Central OromoSunni Islam
OromoPG047402OromoCanada3,700Engaged yet UnreachedEastern OromoSunni 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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