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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Bisa of Burkina Faso

The Bisa of Burkina Faso, numbering approximately 929,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Mande ethnic group of south-central Burkina Faso and northeastern Ghana. They mostly adhere to Ethnoreligion and Bissa is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Burkina Faso
People Cluster: Mande
Primary Language(s): Bissa (bib)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion
Population: 929,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG012376
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Pray for the Bisa of Burkina Faso

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.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Ethnoreligion
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

45%
%
Ethnoreligion Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Bissa
Language Family: Mande

100%
%
Bisa Speakers

Media Resources in Bissa:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Bissa:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2000 Wycliffe Bible Translators Inc.✓✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Bissa bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Bisa 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 Bisa:
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 Bisa of Burkina Faso

These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self- made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
readColossians 2:23

Pray for those without Christ, that they will see the emptiness of human traditions and turn to the truth and grace found in Jesus.

After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.
readLuke 5:27-28

Prat that God will prepare many hearts to meet Him when He says, “Follow Me!” and that they will respond in faith, leaving everything behind to follow Him.

But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.
read1 Peter 3:15

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will always be prepared to share the reason for the hope that they have in Jesus with gentleness and respect.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
readPsalm 23:6

Ask God to raise up believers who will share the hope that, for those who trust in Christ, goodness and love will follow them all the days of their lives, and they will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Busansi Across Countries (ROP3 - 101797) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

4 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguage ▲Religion
BisaPG012376BisaBurkina Faso929,000Engaged yet UnreachedBissaEthnoreligion
BisaPG013053BisaCote d’Ivoire145,000Unengaged and UnreachedBissaFolk Islam
BisaPG013275BisaGhana278,000Engaged yet UnreachedBissaAnimism
BisaPG014326BisaTogo16,500Unengaged and UnreachedBissaEthnoreligion

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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