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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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Chinese (Traditional) - 中文（繁體) | French - Français
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Wolaitta of Ethiopia

The Wolaitta of Ethiopia, numbering approximately 3,020,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an ethnic group living between the Belati and Omo rivers in EthiopiaSoddo They are an Indigenous people, in the Omotic people cluster of the Horn of Africa Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Christianity - Protestantism. They primarily speak Wolaytta.

Wolaitta in Ethiopia photo
Photo courtesy of Joshua Project. Photo Source: Rod Waddington - Flickr Rod Waddington - Flickr Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Northern African and Middle Eastern Peoples
Country: Ethiopia
People Cluster: Omotic
Primary Language(s): Wolaytta (wal)
Primary Religion(s): Christianity - Protestantism
Population: 3,020,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG011653
View on Joshua Project

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Pray for the Wolaitta of Ethiopia

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Christianity - Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

%
Christianity - Protestant… Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Wolaytta
Language Family: Ta-Ne-Omotic

%
Wolaytta Speakers

Media Resources in Wolaytta:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Wolaytta:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Wolaytta bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Next steps for the Wolaitta

The Wolaitta 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 Wolaitta

The Wolaitta 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 Wolaitta

The Wolaitta 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 Wolaitta of Ethiopia

The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble.
readProverbs 4:19

Pray that lost people will accept salvation through Christ, turn from destruction, and experience joy in the way of righteousness.

Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.
readPsalm 96:2

Pray that gospel resources will reach this generation so that they will receive the good news and sing to the LORD, bless His name, and tell of His salvation each day.

Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice!
readPsalm 105:3

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will glory in His holy name and that their hearts will rejoice.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!
readPsalm 51:2

Pray that God will raise up believers to go and share the gospel with those in this people group who need to be washed of their iniquity and cleansed from their sins.

Wolaitta (ROP3 - 110640) 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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