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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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Chinese (Traditional) - 中文（繁體) | French - Français
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Mandinka of Gambia

The Mandinka of Gambia, numbering approximately 1,180,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a West African ethnic group primarily found in southern Mali, the Gambia, eastern Guinea, Senegal, and Ghana. They mostly adhere to Folk Islam and Mandinka is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Gambia
People Cluster: Malinke
Primary Language(s): Mandinka (mnk)
Primary Religion(s): Folk Islam
Population: 1,180,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG013237
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Pray for the Mandinka of Gambia

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: Folk Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

98%
%
Folk Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Mandinka
Language Family: Mande

100%
%
Mandinka Speakers

Media Resources in Mandinka:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Mandinka:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2013 Bible Society in the Gambia✓✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Mandinka bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Mandinka 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 Mandinka:
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 Mandinka of Gambia

For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the LORD made the heavens.
readPsalm 96:5

Pray that those who are seeking after worthless idols will not be satisfied until they seek the truth and find it in Christ.

Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized.
readActs 18:8

Pray that rulers and leaders will access the gospel, respond in faith, and be baptized, uniting with Christ and His Church, and influence others to follow Him.

The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
readLamentations 3:25

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will trust in the goodness of the Lord as they wait on Him to answer their cries for help.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
read2 Corinthians 5:20

Pray that those God sends to cross cultures will be His ambassadors, faithfully imploring people on Christ's behalf to be reconciled to God through Jesus.

Mandinka Across Countries (ROP3 - 106233) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

7 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguage ▼Religion
MandinkaPG012339MandinkaBenin14,500Unengaged and UnreachedMandinkaFolk Islam
MandinkaPG013237MandinkaGambia1,180,000Engaged yet UnreachedMandinkaFolk Islam
MandinkaPG013356MandinkaGhana177,000Engaged yet UnreachedMandinkaFolk Islam
MandinkaPG013466MandinkaGuinea-Bissau263,000Engaged yet UnreachedMandinkaFolk Islam
MandinkaPG014249MandinkaSenegal1,170,000Engaged yet UnreachedMandinkaFolk Islam
MandinkaPG042485MandinkaFrance100Unengaged and UnreachedMandinkaSunni Islam
MandinkaPG047648MandinkaUnited States2,800Engaged yet UnreachedMandinkaSunni Islam

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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