The Jahanke of Guinea-Bissau

The Jahanke of Guinea-Bissau, numbering approximately 12,000 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a Manding-speaking ethnic group indigenous to the Senegambia region. They mostly adhere to Folk Islam and Jahanka is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Guinea-Bissau
People Cluster: Malinke
Primary Language(s): Jahanka (jad)
Primary Religion(s): Folk Islam
Population: 12,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG013458
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Jahanke of Guinea-Bissau

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Folk Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

99%
%
Folk Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Jahanka
Language Family: Mande

100%
%
Jahanka Speakers

Media Resources in Jahanka:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Bible Resources in Jahanka:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Or check out the Jahanka bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 0), 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.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Frontier Unreached People Group, (LPI: 0), < 0.1% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity (GSEC: 1), this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Jahanke:
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

Pray specifically for the Jahanke of Guinea-Bissau

And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior."
readLuke 1:46-47

Pray that those who are lost will recognize their need for a Savior and joyfully embrace the mercy that God offers.

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.
readPsalm 19:1-2

Pray that the lost will see the glory of God revealed in the heavens, that they will hear the good news, and that their hearts will be softened to respond to God’s call, turning to Him in repentance and faith in Jesus Christ for salvation.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
read2 Corinthians 5:17

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will understand and experience the truth that in Christ, they are a new creation, and the old has gone and the new has come.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
read1 John 1:5

Pray that God will raise up believers who can share the gospel with people who don't know the good news of Jesus, that God is light and in him, there is no darkness at all.

Jahanka Across Countries (ROP3 - 104152) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

5 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
JahankaJahankaSenegal56,500Engaged yet UnreachedJahankaFolk Islam
JahankeJahankeGuinea52,000Engaged yet UnreachedJahankaSunni Islam
JahankeJahankeGuinea-Bissau12,000Unengaged and UnreachedJahankaFolk Islam
JahankaJahankaGambia5,600Unengaged and UnreachedJahankaFolk Islam
JahankaJahankaMali2,400Engaged yet UnreachedJahankaSunni 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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