The Mbelime of Benin

The Mbelime of Benin, numbering approximately 74,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are described as an ethnolinguistic community of Benin They are an Indigenous people, with Mbelime as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Gur people cluster of the Sub-Saharan African Peoples. Their primary religion is Ethnoreligion. They primarily speak Mbelime.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Benin
People Cluster: Gur
Primary Language(s): Mbelime (mql)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion
Population: 74,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG012340
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Mbelime of Benin

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.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Ethnoreligion
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

80%
%

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Mbelime
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

100%
%

Media Resources in Mbelime:

Films:

No language code (ROL) found for this post.

Bible Resources in Mbelime:

The filter value is not set for this post.

Or check out the Mbelime bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 2), 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): Minimally Reached People Group, (LPI: 3), 2% to 3% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical (GSEC: 4), this people group is greater than or equal to 2% evangelical

Next steps for the Mbelime:
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 Mbelime 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 Mbelime:
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 Mbelime 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 Mbelime:
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 Mbelime of Benin

Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me! O LORD, be my helper!
readPsalm 30:10

Pray that people in the depths of despair and suffering and living outside of relationship with Christ will cry out to the Lord and find help, peace, and joy in Him.

Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.
readPsalm 25:5

Pray that the gospel will advance and that God will lead people in His truth, bringing many to salvation.

Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
readRomans 5:2

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will rejoice in the hope of glory and be in awe of God's mercy that gives them access to Him through faith.

At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ...that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.
readColossians 4:3-4

Ask God to open doors for believers to share the gospel and help them communicate it clearly so that more people will understand the mystery of Christ and turn to follow Him.

Mbelime Across Countries (ROP3 - 106471) 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.

Scroll to Top