The Bette-Bende of Nigeria

The Bette-Bende of Nigeria, numbering approximately 183,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic community of Nigeria. They mostly adhere to Protestantism and Bete-Bendi is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2025). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Bette-Bende

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Nigeria
People Cluster: Benue
Primary Language(s): Bete-Bendi (btt)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 183,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG013685
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Bette-Bende of Nigeria

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: Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

89%
%
Protestantism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Bete-Bendi
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

100%
%
Bete-Bendi Speakers

Media Resources in Bete-Bendi:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Bible Resources in Bete-Bendi:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
1982 Public Domain✓✓✓

1 entry

Or check out the Bete-Bendi bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Bette-Bende 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.

Next steps for the Bette-Bende:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Bette-Bende of Nigeria

That they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us.
readActs 17:27

Pray that those who don't yet know Christ will search diligently for God and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.

...I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
readPsalm 13:5

Ask God to bring many to trust in His unfailing love and cause their hearts to rejoice in His salvation.

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?
readPsalm 42:2

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will thirst for God and be satisfied when they abide in Him.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
readActs 1:8

Pray that God will raise up believers who are willing to cross cultures and boldly share the good news of Jesus with the lost in this people group and from every nation.

Bette-Bende Across Countries (ROP3 - 101304) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

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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