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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Zay of Ethiopia

The Zay of Ethiopia, numbering approximately 23,000 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic community of Ethiopia and can also be known as Laki, Zway. They are an Indigenous people, in the Ethio-Semitic people cluster of the Horn of Africa affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Christianity - Eastern Orthodox. They primarily speak Zay.

Photo courtesy of Joshua Project. Photo Source: Anonymous

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: North Africa and Middle East Peoples
Country: Ethiopia
People Cluster: Ethio-Semitic
Primary Language(s): Zay (zwa)
Primary Religion(s): Christianity - Eastern Orthodox
Population: 23,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG011661

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Pray for the Zay of Ethiopia

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Christianity - Eastern Orthodox
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

%
Christianity - Eastern Or… Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Zay
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic

%
Zay Speakers

Media Resources in Zay:

Films:

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Bible Resources in Zay:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

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Next steps for the Zay

The Zay 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 Zay

The Zay 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 Zay

The Zay 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 Zay of Ethiopia

Claiming to be wise, they became fools.
readRomans 1:22

Ask God to pour out His mercy and bring those who are walking in their own wisdom to faith in Jesus.

Greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in Asia."
readRomans 16:5

Pray for houses to be meeting places for Christians and that God will advance the gospel and grow His Church through natural familial and community relationships.

Sanctify them in the truth, your word is truth.
readJohn 17:17

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will experience freedom from sin as God sanctifies them in the truth of His Word.

For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods.
readPsalm 96:4

Pray that God will raise up believers to declare His glory among the lost, so that they may know that He is great and greatly to be praised, that He is exalted above all gods. 

Zay reported in the following countries (ROP3):

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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