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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Shanga of Nigeria

The Shanga of Nigeria, numbering approximately 29,500 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic community of Nigeria. They are an Indigenous people, in the Mande people cluster of the Sub-Saharan African Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Islam - Folk. They primarily speak Shanga.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Nigeria
People Cluster: Mande
Primary Language(s): Shanga (sho)
Primary Religion(s): Islam - Folk
Population: 29,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG014104
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Pray for the Shanga of Nigeria

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Islam - Folk
Religious Affiliation: Islam

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Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Shanga
Language Family: Mande

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Media Resources in Shanga:

Films:

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Bible Resources in Shanga:

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Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Shanga bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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Next steps for the Shanga

The Shanga 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 Shanga

The Shanga 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 Shanga

The Shanga 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 Shanga of Nigeria

For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
readRomans 5:7-8

Pray for the many who don't yet understand the hope of the gospel, and pray that God will reveal to them that while they were in darkness, Christ died for them.

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!
readPsalm 57:11

Pray that the lost will learn about God's great love and faithfulness so that they might trust in Christ for their salvation.

Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
readColossians 4:6

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, their speech will always be gracious and ready to answer for the hope which is within them.

For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.
read2 Corinthians 1:8-9

Pray that as people hear and believe the gospel, they will be faithful as they walk through trials and will have an opportunity to be a witness to others in this people group of the goodness of God.

Shanga (ROP3 - 108910) 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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