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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Temne of Sierra Leone

The Temne of Sierra Leone, numbering approximately 2,160,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as an ethnolinguistic community of Sierra Leone They are an Indigenous people, with Temne as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Atlantic people cluster of the Sub-Saharan African Peoples. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Timne is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Sierra Leone
People Cluster: Atlantic
Primary Language(s): Timne (tem)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 2,160,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG014297
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Pray for the Temne of Sierra Leone

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.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

77%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Timne
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

100%
%
Themne Speakers

Media Resources in Timne:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Timne:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Bible Society in Sierra Leone✓✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Timne bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Temne 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 Temne:
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 Temne of Sierra Leone

Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.
readMark 10:15

Pray for those who might be trapped in pride, that God will humble them and give them a childlike faith and complete dependence on Him through faith in Christ.

And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.
readIsaiah 30:21

As the lost in this people group seek to know the truth of who God is, pray that the Spirit of God will draw them to Himself and guide them in the way they should go.

For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.
readRomans 10:12

Pray that as people from different backgrounds place their faith in Christ, they will be unified by their faith Him.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
readJohn 1:12

Pray that believers will have the opportunity to clearly share the good news with the lost here, so that all people can be invited to trust in Jesus and become children of God.

Temne Across Countries (ROP3 - 109939) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
TemnePG014297TemneSierra Leone2,160,000Engaged yet UnreachedTimneSunni 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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