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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Wellaga of Ethiopia

The Wellaga of Ethiopia, numbering approximately 6,925,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a major subgroup of the Oromo peoples of Ethiopia. They are an Indigenous people in the Oromo people cluster of the Horn of Africa Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary language is Oromo, West Central and their primary religion is Orthodox Christianity.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Horn of Africa Peoples
Country: Ethiopia
People Cluster: Oromo
Primary Language(s): Oromo, West Central (gaz)
Primary Religion(s): Orthodox Christianity
Population: 6,925,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG011654

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Pray for the Wellaga 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: Orthodox Christianity
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

57%
%

Dig Deeper (Language):

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

100%
%

Media Resources in Oromo, West Central:

Films:

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Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Oromo, West Central:

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Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

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

Linked from YouVersion

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Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 1), 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 Wellaga:
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

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Wellaga 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 Wellaga:
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

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Wellaga 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.

Next steps for the Wellaga:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Wellaga of Ethiopia

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
readRomans 1:19

Pray that God will use testimony of creation to cause those who do not yet know the gospel to long for truth and a relationship with the Author of life.

All the earth worships you and sings praises to you; they sing praises to your name.
readPsalm 66:4

Pray that the good news of Jesus will advance here and that many will bow down and sing praises to His name.

And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven."
readMatthew 16:17

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will abide in Him and have assurance that He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.
readMark 7:15

Pray for Christians to take any opportunity to share the hope of Jesus with lost people here, praying they will be wise like Jesus as they share the truth about what can defile people and what can make them clean.

Oromo, Wallega Across Countries (ROP3 - 110644) 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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