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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The South Central Banda of Central African Republic

The South Central Banda of Central African Republic, numbering approximately 288,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a regional branch of the Banda, Central Africa's largest ethnic group, organized into patrilineal hamlets under local headmen and growing maize, cassava, groundnuts, and yams despite historic devastation from nineteenth-century slave raiding. They mostly adhere to Neo-Pentecostalism and South Central Banda is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Banda, South Central

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Central African Republic
People Cluster: Adamawa-Ubangi
Primary Language(s): South Central Banda (lnl)
Primary Religion(s): Neo-Pentecostalism
Population: 288,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG012884

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Pray for the South Central Banda of Central African Republic

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: Neo-Pentecostalism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

—
%
Neo-Pentecostalism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: South Central Banda
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

100%
%
Banda, South Central Speakers

Media Resources in South Central Banda:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in South Central Banda:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2020 ACATBA✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the South Central Banda bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The South Central Banda 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 South Central Banda:
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 South Central Banda of Central African Republic

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
readMatthew 5:16

Pray that those who are deceived about what brings peace will not settle for any lies they’ve heard about God and will diligently seek Him and be satisfied when they learn the truth about who He is and what He’s done.

And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.
readActs 6:7

Pray that the Word of God will be increasingly available to these people in ways they will resonate with so that all may have a chance to respond to the good news of Jesus Christ.

Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the LORD has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted.
readIsaiah 49:13

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and suffer for their faith, they will sing for joy and be glad in their hearts because the Lord has compassion on them.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
readJohn 1:5

Pray that when discouraging days come, those who cross cultures for the sake of the gospel will be comforted as they remember that the light of Christ is stronger than the darkness that surrounds them.

Banda, South Central Across Countries (ROP3 - 119352) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDName ▼CountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
South Central BandaPG012884South Central BandaCentral African Republic288,000Engaged yet UnreachedSouth Central BandaNeo-Pentecostalism

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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