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The Yem of Ethiopia

The Yem of Ethiopia, numbering approximately 264,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an Omotic people of southwestern Ethiopia, heirs to the former Yemma kingdom, with a traditional homeland between the Gibe and Little Gibe rivers. They mostly adhere to Ethnoreligion and Yemsa is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Horn of Africa Peoples
Country: Ethiopia
People Cluster: Omotic
Primary Language(s): Yemsa (jnj)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion
Population: 264,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG011656
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Pray for the Yem 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.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Ethnoreligion
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

—
%
Ethnoreligion Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

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

60%
%
Yemsa Speakers

Media Resources in Yemsa:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Yemsa:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
The Word for the World✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Yemsa bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Yem 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 Yem:
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 Yem of Ethiopia

He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him
readLuke 10:34

Pray that the lost among them will experience the kind of compassion Jesus taught His followers to show others, and that they will trust in Him because He is the one who brings healing to the broken and lost.

"O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me."
readJohn 17:25

Pray that the lost will come to know the Father and Jesus Christ, whom He has sent, and that they will be filled with His love and grace.

My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
readJohn 10:29

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will rejoice as they remember that they can never lose their salvation

And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.
readMark 5:20

Pray that God will bring people who appear beyond hope to faith in Jesus and that they will then go and tell others of the marvelous things He has done.

Yem Across Countries (ROP3 - 111028) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
YemPG011656YemEthiopia264,000Engaged yet UnreachedYemsaEthnoreligion

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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