The Toli of Benin

The Toli of Benin, numbering approximately 354,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a coastal subclan of the Gun people speaking the Toli dialect of Gbe, concentrated around Porto-Novo, the Beninese capital the Gun originally founded and named Hogbonu. They mostly adhere to Ethnoreligion and Gun is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Benin
People Cluster: Guinean
Primary Language(s): Gun (guw)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion
Population: 354,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG012355
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Toli 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

95%
%
Ethnoreligion Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Gun
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

100%
%
Gun Speakers

Media Resources in Gun:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Bible Resources in Gun:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
1987 Bible Society of Benin✓✓

1 entry

Or check out the Gun bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Toli 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 Toli:
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 Toli of Benin

And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
readMatthew 6:16

Pray that those who live to please men and not God will turn from the emptiness of seeking approval from others and find true satisfaction in the treasure of a personal relationship with God.

Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.’ In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.
readJob 1:20-22

Pray that those who mourn will worship God in the midst of their suffering and loss, recognizing He is the source of all good things and that He is worthy of their praise and trust.

More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
readRomans 5:11

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will rejoice in what God has done for them and will help others know how they can also be reconciled to God.

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
readRevelation 7:9-10

Pray that the promise in Revelation 7:9-10 will encourage believers from among them or from nearby people groups to share the gospel with people who have never learned it.

Toli-Gbe Across Countries (ROP3 - 110138) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

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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