The Ijo of Ghana

The Ijo of Ghana, numbering approximately 52,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an ethnic subgroup of the Ijaw people indigenous to he Niger Delta in Nigeria and can also be known as Kalabari, Eastern Ijaw. They are an Diaspora people, in the Ijaw people cluster of the Sub-Saharan African affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Christianity - Protestantism. They primarily speak Kalabari.

Ijo in Ghana photo
Photo courtesy of Joshua Project. Photo Source: Biokpo Diali George - Wikimedia Biokpo Diali George - Wikimedia Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-saharan Africa Peoples
Country: Ghana
People Cluster: Ijaw
Primary Language(s): Kalabari (ijn)
Primary Religion(s): Christianity - Protestantism
Population: 52,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG013339
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Ijo of Ghana

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: Christianity - Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

%
Christianity - Protestant… Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Kalabari
Language Family: Niger-Congo

%
Kalabari Speakers

Media Resources in Kalabari:

Films:

Bible Resources in Kalabari:

Or check out the Kalabari bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

Next steps for the Ijo

The Ijo are Unengaged and Unreached, 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.

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

Next steps for the Ijo

The Ijo 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.

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

Next steps for the Ijo

The Ijo 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.

Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Ijo of Ghana

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
readGenesis 3:15

Pray that those without Christ will hear the words of Genesis 1-3 in their own language, and desire to know their Creator and His provision of salvation.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
readRomans 3:23

Pray that the gospel will advance and many will acknowledge that all have sinned, fall short of God's glory, and need a Savior to reconcile them to God.

Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.
readMatthew 18:19

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they find other believers to pray with, and that they will trust God to answer their requests according to His will.

The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”
readJohn 1:35-36

Pray for those God sends to cross cultures to share the gospel, that they might faithfully share the good news of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Kalabari (ROP3 - 104448) 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.

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