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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Black Africans of United Arab Emirates

The Black Africans of United Arab Emirates, numbering approximately 30,500 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a diaspora community of Swahili (Waungwana) in the United Arab Emirates They are an Diaspora people, in the Bantu, Swahili people cluster of the Sub-Saharan African Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Islam - Sunni. They primarily speak Swahili.

Coastal Swahili in Kenya photo
Photo courtesy of Joshua Project. Photo Source: Luciano Rizzello - Flickr Luciano Rizzello - Flickr Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: United Arab Emirates
People Cluster: Bantu, Swahili
Primary Language(s): Swahili (swh)
Primary Religion(s): Islam - Sunni
Population: 30,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG012226
View on Joshua Project

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Pray for the Black Africans of United Arab Emirates

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: Islam - Sunni
Religious Affiliation: Islam

%
Islam - Sunni Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Swahili
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

%
Swahili Speakers

Media Resources in Swahili:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Swahili:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Swahili bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Next steps for the Black Africans

The Black Africans 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 Black Africans

The Black Africans 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 Black Africans

The Black Africans 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 Black Africans of United Arab Emirates

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.
readJohn 11:25

Pray for the many who have never heard about or understood the importance of what Jesus did for them, asking God to make a way for them to hear that the perfect Son of Man suffered, died, and rose again so that they might be saved.

And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.
readLuke 2:17

Pray that the lost will receive the good news of salvation in God's Son, have hearts eager to share it with others, and that all who hear will respond with wonder and faith!

It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”
readIsaiah 25:9

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will proclaim and rejoice in His salvation.

For the needy shall not always be forgotten, and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever.
readPsalm 9:18

Pray that God will raise up believers who can help meet emotional and physical needs among this people group. Ask Him to open doors for them and give them the courage to walk into difficult situations and share the hope of the gospel boldly.

Swahili (ROP3 - 109644) 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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